Second Genome Announces Collaboration with Arena Pharmaceuticals to Identify Gastrointestinal Biomarkers

BRISBANE, Calif., Aug. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Second Genome, a biotechnology company that leverages its proprietary platform sg-4-sight to discover and develop precision therapies and biomarkers from public and proprietary microbiome data, today announced they are entering a strategic collaboration with Arena Pharmaceuticals, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARNA) to identify microbiome biomarkers associated with clinical response for their lead program in gastroenterology, etrasimod. 

Under the terms of the agreement, Second Genome will utilize its proprietary sg-4-sight discovery engine to identify microbiome biomarkers associated with clinical benefit or adverse effects observed within data from the CULTIVATE clinical trial. Arena's CULTIVATE trial is a Phase 2/3 clinical trial evaluating the efficacy and safety of etrasimod, a next-generation, once-daily, oral, highly selective sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) receptor modulator, in patients with moderately-to-severely active Crohn's disease. This work will help inform patient stratification and optimize potential treatments for patients in the future.

"The multi-disciplinary capabilities of our sg-4-sight platform and our team's deep expertise enable Second Genome to collaborate with partners as we continue to advance our own pipeline of precision therapeutics and biomarkers," said Karim Dabbagh, Ph.D., President and Chief Executive Officer of Second Genome. "Arena shares our commitment to unlocking innovative ways to improve human health. We look forward to working with Arena and applying our sg-4-sight platform to discover microbiome signals in Crohn's disease patients."

"There is substantial evidence that gut microbiome is intricately involved in therapy response in gastrointestinal diseases," said Amit D. Munshi, President and Chief Executive Officer of Arena Pharmaceuticals. "We are pleased to collaborate with Second Genome to discover microbiome biomarkers predictive of clinical response as we continue to progress our CULTIVATE clinical trial."

About Second Genome
Second Genome is a biotechnology company that leverages its proprietary tech platform sg-4-sight to discover and develop transformational precision therapies and biomarkers through clinical development and commercialization based on novel microbial genetic insights. We built a proprietary microbiome-based drug discovery and development platform with specialized microbiome profiling assays, lab reagents and cloud scale databases, machine-learning analytics, customized protein engineering techniques, phage library screening, mass spec analysis and CRISPR, that we couple with traditional drug development approaches to progress the development of therapies and diagnostics for wide-ranging diseases. Second Genome is advancing a deep drug discovery and biomarker pipeline with precision therapeutics and biomarker programs in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and cancer, with the lead programs IBD and cancer expected to enter clinical development in 2022. We also collaborate with industry, academic and governmental partners to leverage our microbiome platform and data science. We hold a strategic collaboration with Gilead Sciences, Inc., utilizing our proprietary platform and comprehensive data sets to identify novel biomarkers associated with clinical response to Gilead's investigational medicines. For more information, please visit www.secondgenome.com. 

About Arena Pharmaceuticals
ARENA Pharmaceuticals is a team with a singular purpose – deliver important medicines to patients. In a rapidly changing global market, we work with a sense of urgency every day to understand the needs of all our stakeholders, identify bold, sometimes disruptive, ideas to get medicines to patients, and relentlessly execute until it's done.

We are developing a richly diversified portfolio of therapeutic candidates targeting gastroenterology, dermatology and cardiology. Our pipeline includes four investigational medicines in eight indications and eleven ongoing or planned clinical trials. To fuel our growth, we are unlocking the value of our historical GPCR research with a sustainable discovery engine for broad portfolio expansion.

ARENA - Care More. Act Differently.

Investor Contact:
Argot Partners
212-600-1902
secondgenome@argotpartners.com   

Media Contact:
Argot Partners
212-600-1902
secondgenome@argotpartners.com  

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SOURCE Second Genome