Oxford BioDynamics Plc (LON: OBD), a biotechnology company focused on the discovery and development of epigenetic biomarkers based on regulatory genome architecture, for use within the pharmaceutical and biotechnology industry, announced today that it will present four papers at the 10th Malaysian Endocrine and Metabolic Society Annual Congress (“MAC10”) to be held from 19-21 July 2019 at the Hilton Kuala Lumpur Hotel, Malaysia. The papers will showcase potential EpiSwitch™ biomarker applications for type 2 diabetes mellitus (T2DM) and will be presented by team members from OBD’s reference laboratory in Penang, Malaysia, together with collaborators from Hospital Seberang Jaya, a prominent Malaysian government hospital.
The papers focus on the successful development and validation of powerful progressive biomarkers in T2DM and demonstrate how OBD’s EpiSwitch™ technology can assist experts in endocrinology in the management of T2DM and pre-diabetes, potentially reducing expenditure on treatment for a country which is severely affected by the disease. The data stems from an ongoing T2DM study with a cohort of Malaysian volunteers that OBD has been conducting since 2016. Collaborating with public and private hospitals including Hospital Seberang Jaya and Penang Adventist Hospital, the study has recruited more than 400 subjects and analysed more than 2,000 data points in the form of blood samples.
OBD will present on the following topics: “Identification of chromosome conformation signatures involved in progression of Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus using EpiSwitch™”; “Islet cell autoantibody profile in a Malaysian Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus population”; “Is Alzheimer’s disease risk factor apolipoprotein E polymorphism a risk factor of Type-2 Diabetes Mellitus?”; and, with colleagues from Hospital Seberang Jaya, “Comparison of diagnostic performance and clinical utility of different HbA1c criteria against oral glucose tolerance test (OGTT) in screen detection of diabetes in Penang, Malaysia”.
Dr Alexandre Akoulitchev, Chief Scientific Officer of Oxford BioDynamics, commented:
“Type 2 diabetes mellitus is a public health threat in Malaysia, associated with major health risk factors and of very high prevalence – over 20% among adults over 30 years of age. Many people are also affected by pre-diabetic conditions, which are often asymptomatic and cause a gradual negative impact on their health. OBD is using its EpiSwitch™ biomarker technology to develop prognostic stratifications for those with type 2 diabetes and in the pre-diabetic state. This can lead to early diagnosis, disease monitoring and profiling of these individuals and therefore has the potential to make an important contribution to this growing health concern not only in Malaysia, but more widely.”
