Singapore: Commercialisation Australia has awarded Proteomics International, a life sciences company based in Perth, with $1 million grant to develop its biomarkers for diabetic kidney disease. Diabetic kidney disease is a severe complication of diabetes that kills over 28 million people per year worldwide.

The work that Proteomics International will undergo should result in the production of a more sensitive and effective molecular test to better predict kidney disease and monitor its progression in those patients with diabetes.

Proteomics International is both a drug discovery company and contract research service provider. Biomarkers are biological signatures that indicate the state of health or disease. The currently available microalbumin test for this disease is limited in its usefulness in early diagnosis and in monitoring the progression.

Dr Richard Lipscombe, managing director of Proteomics International, commented, "Early detection is the key to managing this disease. Importantly, a companion diagnostic test that is being developed with these biomarkers may help to produce new personalised medicines, and in a shorter time frame. This could deliver optimal therapy for certain groups of patients and identify those patients where medicine would be less effective or cause side effects. The opportunity to boost health outcomes on a large scale for the many sufferers of diabetes drives our enthusiasm."

Proteomics International will use the funding to undertake analysis of additional patient groups to further validate its biomarkers as a pre-cursor to out-licensing its intellectual property.