"Illumina and Ovation.io have announced the creation of a major new clinical multiomic dataset focused on glucagon-like peptide-1 (GLP-1) receptor agonist therapies.
GLP-1 receptor agonists are increasingly used to treat conditions such as Type 2 diabetes and obesity. According to a 2024 Kaiser Family Foundation poll, one in eight adults in the United States has used a GLP-1 therapy. However, around 40% of people with Type 2 diabetes do not respond well to these treatments. This new dataset is intended to support research into why certain patients do not respond and to help identify new uses for GLP-1-based therapies.
This dataset, said to be the largest of its kind available commercially, includes clinical data from 25,000 patients and aims to help accelerate drug discovery and development in the pharmaceutical sector.
The dataset includes phenotypic, genomic, and proteomic information, covering both patients who respond to GLP-1 therapies and those who do not. The aim is to deepen the understanding of the molecular mechanisms behind treatment responses and to uncover new biomarkers and drug targets. The collaboration also seeks to identify additional medical conditions that could benefit from GLP-1-based therapies.
Illumina’s technology is being used to sequence 25,000 whole genomes and analyse protein expression in 5,000 samples. This is being done through its Protein Prep (IPP) assay, which can detect up to 9,500 human proteins per sample. A portion of the dataset will include longitudinal samples collected before and after patients start GLP-1 therapy, allowing for a better understanding of treatment impact over time.
The proteomic data will be used to discover protein quantitative trait loci (pQTL), which are considered increasingly important for linking genetic variations with protein activity and disease. The resulting data is being processed using Illumina’s advanced genomic analysis platforms and will be stored securely for future large-scale studies.
Ovation is contributing samples from its biobank of over 1.7 million consented and de-identified samples, all of which are linked to detailed patient health data. This collaboration builds on a previous agreement between the two companies that began in 2024, which included pilot studies focused on liver disease, kidney disease, and GLP-1 therapies.