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People living with psychiatric disorders often face a path to correct diagnosis and treatment that is fraught with difficulties. The typical patient journey involves being prescribed a treatment that works in the majority of patients with similar symptoms (a one-size-fits-most approach). However, in many cases it is not the symptoms, but individual genetic and biological differences that hold the key to whether a prescribed treatment will be effective, yet physicians have no way of knowing this without a test that reveals the ideal treatment option for each patient.
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Because of this, patients have little choice but to endure treatments that are not right for them, do not alleviate their symptoms, and do not cure their disorder. After a period of 8-10 weeks, when their physician has confirmed that an initial treatment is not working, they may get prescribed an alternative one, and then another if that one also fails. This process is known as “trial and error” and may be repeated several times until an effective therapy is identified.
From a patient´s perspective, the time that passes between receiving a diagnosis to getting appropriate therapy to health recovery is not negligible. Depending on symptom severity, a mental health patient adhering to an ineffective treatment not only sees their suffering prolonged unnecessarily, but may also miss work, lose income, and cause anguish to their family or loved ones.
At PreciseMent, our north star is enabling more precision-driven, effective, and personalized care for patients that gets them the right treatment the first time. To achieve this, we are developing a platform that, using a single drop of blood obtained by fingerprick, analyzes combinations of molecules in the blood (so-called “biomarkers”) to predict which one among several possible treatments is a best match. It saves time, reduces suffering, and helps patients get better, sooner.