RNA Biomarker Analysis: An Actionable, Data-Driven Decision Platform
Analysis of biomarkers is quickly becoming the preferred method for early detection of disease, patient stratification and monitoring efficacy of treatment. Biomarkers can be used in clinical practice to identify risk for or diagnose a disease, stratify patients, assess disease severity or progression, predict prognosis, or guide treatment. In drug development, biomarkers may be used to help determine how a drug works in the body, to determine a clinically effective dose of a drug, to help assess whether a drug is safe or effective, or to help identify patients most likely to respond to a treatment and are least likely to suffer an adverse event. Biomarkers can sometimes be used as part of the approval process for a drug or treatment as part of regulatory decision-making. However, rapid and highly sensitive detection of changes in a biomarker is often technically impossible, or may require a cumbersome procedure involving multiple processing steps, necessitating large sample volumes and a prolonged diagnosis/prognosis timeline. The sample from a patient is often of a limited volume and not amenable to extensive processing or to procedures requiring multiple steps that extend the processing time.