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PrecisionLife and Ovation ink collaboration agreement to launch GLP-1 tests

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PRESS RELEASE

PrecisionLife and Ovation ink collaboration agreement to launch
GLP-1 stratification LDT and consumer GLP-1 DNA test in 2026 

Companies confirm that markers of weight loss and glycemic control are distinct in preliminary study, with multiple mechanisms identified that provide opportunities to guide indication extension

 

OXFORD, UK and PORTLAND, ME – 15  April 2026 – Ovation.io, a leading human omics and clinical data company, and PrecisionLife, a precision medicine company transforming how complex chronic diseases are understood and managed, today announced that they have reached agreement to commercialize the outputs of PrecisionLife’s analysis of Ovation’s high quality GLP-1 receptor agonist dataset. 

PrecisionLife CEO, Steve Gardner quote - Our teams have generated the world’s most detailed GLP-1 insightsThe companies confirmed that they have identified novel quantitative markers for strong glycemic control (HbA1c) that are specific and different to those for weight loss (BMI) in a real-world population. PrecisionLife will reproduce, refine, and validate these findings in additional datasets provided by Ovation.io, including studies to confirm predictive performance for leading GLP-1 therapies such as semaglutide and tirzepatide against real-world patient outcomes across independent cohorts over the next six months.

The partners intend to bring a consumer DNA test to market to enable individuals to understand their likely personal safety, efficacy, and tolerability profile for GLP-1 drugs to make informed decisions about their risks and potentially achievable benefits. Payors are also evaluating the opportunity to use the companies’ insights to inform reimbursement decisions and expand coverage in certain health plans based on an individual’s likely level and longevity of response.

In addition to known mechanisms of weight loss and glycemic control, the collaboration has also found new biological mechanisms associated with response.

These mechanisms are consistent with those previously identified across several of the 60 complex chronic diseases studied by PrecisionLife, including pathways linked to addiction and neuroplasticity.

This work creates a significant opportunity to improve patient outcomes while reducing unnecessary treatment costs by identifying which patients are most likely to respond to GLP-1 therapies. By enabling a more precise match between patients and treatment, the approach supports more effective use of these medicines at scale.

Building on this, the partners have agreed to co-develop laboratory developed tests (LDTs) to enable enrichment of clinical trials with strong responders in new indication areas with high unmet need. This also creates opportunities for GLP-1 asset holders to differentiate their products in the post-marketing setting and to improve the probability of success in indication expansion studies. The companies are in discussions with asset holders and sponsors to deploy these stratification tools to enhance clinical trial success and optimize treatment selection.

“The combination of Ovation’s high-quality multi-omic and longitudinal clinical data and PrecisionLife’s analytics platform has enabled us to rapidly expand understanding of the complex and heterogeneous patient responses to GLP-1 medication. Our teams have generated the world’s most detailed insights into why patients respond differently to these medicines. We will make these insights clinically actionable via noninvasive DNA tests supported by our results reporting platform and CLIA lab partners,” said Steve Gardner, Chief Executive Officer of PrecisionLife.

As this dataset becomes one of the world’s largest precision biomarker discovery resources, the companies will independently validate the current results and expand the scope of studies. Additional clinical annotations will be included in future analysis to identify markers of safety and tolerability, as well as efficacy and safety signals for individual molecules. To date, the markers of strong responses to GLP-1 drugs were also associated with type-II diabetes, cardiovascular disease, lipid metabolism and other disease states. The biomarkers of efficacy were identified in 100% of the patients studied. 

“We’ve worked with several AI companies to unlock value from our complex datasets. PrecisionLife lives up to its claims - finding more insights, at pace. We’re confident that together we can translate those insights into commercial outcomes and products in GLP-1s and other diseases with huge clinical impact. This collaboration also expands our partnering offer to biopharma and shows the investment case for Ovation’s high-quality datasets - they are catalytic to value creation in genomics and precision medicine ,” said Curt Medeiros, Chief Executive Officer of Ovation.io.


 -- ENDS -- 

Predicting GLP-1 Response (1)

Frequently Asked Questions

GLP-1 drugs are among the fastest-growing drug classes globally, yet more than 50% of patients discontinue within 12 months. When patients stop therapy, many rapidly lose the metabolic and cardiovascular benefits they gained.

In the US alone, approximately $72 billion was spent last year on GLP-1 therapies. High discontinuation and variable efficacy mean a substantial proportion of that spend does not translate into sustained health benefit.

A predictive test could help ensure the right patients receive the right therapy that they will find safe, efficacious and tolerable, improving outcomes while reducing clinical and financial waste.

The Phase 1 proof-of-concept study analyzed whole genome and limited clinical data from 4,600 GLP-1 RA patients and demonstrated that we can:

  • Identify strong and weak responders based on genetic signatures
  • Quantitatively predict efficacy using BMI and HbA1c change
  • Detect over 2,500 genetic signatures mapping to 1,100 genes
  • Identify 15 major biological mechanisms driving response

This is the first time detailed mechanistic efficacy signals have been shown directly within a GLP-1-treated real-world population at this level of resolution. 

Most existing tests rely on small gene panels derived from GWAS or known appetite-related genes.

This collaboration analyzes quantitative drug response directly in GLP-1-treated patients, identifying a large number of combinatorial genetic patterns across multiple biological pathways and tissues.

Rather than testing a handful of well-known genes, the platform uncovers much deeper mechanism-level drivers of response and non-response, including multiple novel pathways beyond classical GLP-1 biology. As well as efficacy for weight loss, glycemic control and other phenotypes, we are also examining the safety and tolerability of these drugs.

We can also use this to develop drug specific tests, looking at the relative performance and benefits of one compound over another for specific patients.

The many pathways identified include:

  • Dopaminergic signaling
  • Glutamatergic signaling
  • Leptin-mediated pathways
  • PI3K-AKT signaling
  • Histamine signaling
  • Insulin secretion and lipid metabolism

These mechanisms influence appetite regulation, reward processing, energy balance, glucose homeostasis, and metabolic control. Importantly, some identified genes fall outside established GLP-1 mechanisms, suggesting novel biology.

By identifying biological mechanisms rather than isolated genes, the analysis helps explain why some patients experience strong, durable benefit while others do not, supports quantitative prediction of response magnitude and tolerability, and provides a mechanistic foundation for more precise prescribing and drug-specific stratification as the GLP-1 class continues to expand.

Phase 2 expands the dataset to up to 25,000 patients and bring in more detailed longitudinal clinical data.

It will:

  • Validate the efficacy signals at larger scale, and at higher resolution
  • Identify predictive markers of safety and tolerability
  • Assess drug-specific differences in different applications
  • Evaluate discontinuation and rebound risk
  • Enable head-to-head drug comparisons as data matures

This moves the program from proof-of-concept to clinically actionable stratification.

Payors face significant losses associated with GLP-1 coverage. Large US insurers have reported hundreds of millions in annual losses.

A predictive test could:

  • Reduce ineffective prescriptions and improve the affordability of healthcare
  • Lower tolerability issues (side-effects) and discontinuation rates
  • Support sustainable expansion of coverage to patients who will benefit long-term
  • Enable differentiated reimbursement strategies for their health plans

This shifts GLP-1 prescribing from trial-and-error to evidence-guided allocation.

Biopharma companies face:

  • Massive competition and potential market saturation with over 500 GLP-1-related clinical trials across 100+ indications
  • Downward price pressure
  • Highly restricted reimbursement and resistance to new indications

Mechanism-based stratification can:

  • Enrich clinical trials for responders (response biomarkers)
  • Identify strong responder subgroups (complementary diagnostic)
  • Differentiate competing assets
  • Support development in new indications (biomarker-led indication switching)
  • De-risk late-stage programs (clinical trial design)
Stratification based on safety and tolerability is highly likely to become strategically important as the class matures.
Yes. The collaboration analyses 25,000 real-world patients treated with multiple GLP-1 therapies, and aims to discover biomarkers that are therapy and symptom specific where sufficient predictive power can be reached. The ultimate objective is to guide treatment selection for individual patients, whether they are prescribed semaglutide, liraglutide, tirzepatide, or other emerging agents.

Previous efforts to expand GLP-1s into new indications - such as the semaglutide Alzheimer’s trial - largely targeted broad patient groups defined by their clinical symptoms or diagnostic labels. These approaches do not account for the fact that complex chronic diseases are driven by multiple distinct biological mechanisms, and that patients have different genetic and comorbidity backgrounds meaning they will respond differently to modulation of GLP-1 pathways.

PrecisionLife’s platform finds more pathways and applies mechanistic patient stratification, identifying the specific combinations of genetic and biological drivers that create different subgroups within a disease. This allows us to compare the broader range of biology to find true candidates for GLP-1 approaches.

This reveals which subpopulations in new indications are most likely to be responsive to GLP-1s and which are not, and which have the highest likelihood of specific adverse events. By matching therapies to the biological mechanisms active in each subgroup - rather than treating all patients as a homogeneous population - PrecisionLife enables far more targeted, de-risked development in secondary indications.

This stratified approach avoids the one-size-fits-all assumptions that have constrained past indication extension attempts and provides a clearer, evidence-led path to expanding GLP-1 use where it is biologically and clinically justified.

No. The intention is to expand access to patients who will find the drugs safe, efficacious and tolerable by enabling more sustainable reimbursement models. Payors can invest confidently when they know who will benefit most, and providers can prescribe more effectively with evidence-backed insights. Over time, this supports broader adoption across more indications while protecting health system budgets.


About PrecisionLife® 

PrecisionLife is transforming how chronic diseases are predicted, treated, and prevented. Using its proprietary combinatorial analytics AI platform, PrecisionLife reveals more insights from less data than any other genetic analysis and uniquely discovers the biological mechanisms that drive complex diseases.

This approach enables high-resolution patient stratification and precision medicine at scale, powering world-leading personalized health solutions across healthcare and life sciences.

PrecisionLife partners with healthcare providers, payors and biopharma innovators to deliver clinically actionable insights that improve health outcomes, reduce costs, and extend healthy lifespan for billions of people affected by chronic disease.

For more information:
Visit: precisionlife.com
Contact: press@precisionlife.com 
Follow: PrecisionLifeAI

 

About Ovation

Ovation is a genomic data company committed to unlocking the potential of human genomic data at scale to accelerate precision medicine development. By providing access to high-quality genomic data linked to rich, longitudinal phenotypic data at scale, Ovation allows life sciences researchers to advance drug discovery and development more efficiently. 

For more information about Ovation, visit www.ovation.io
Contact: media@ovation.io 

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