The Genetic Link

Loyal: pursuing longer, healthier lives for dogs

Sanna Abbasi, PhD — Tue, 19 Mar 2024 15:50:32 GMT

Extending dog lifespan is a shared aspiration for many pet owners. A longer, healthier life for your dog means more years of shared experiences, laughter, and companionship. The commitment to enhancing a dog's longevity often translates into a stronger focus on preventative healthcare, nutrition, and overall well-being, all of which foster a higher quality of life for pets. DNA Genotek Inc. is pleased to be working with Loyal on their research into extending dog lifespan and healthspan.

Helping dogs live longer, healthier lives

Loyal is a clinical-stage biotechnology company based in San Francisco developing drugs intended to extend the healthy lifespan of dogs. Loyal was founded by Celine Halioua, CEO, who is passionate about dogs and has a keen interest in researching longevity. In their pursuit of longer and healthier lives for dogs, Loyal is developing three prescription drugs for FDA approval: LOY-001, LOY-002, and LOY-003.

LOY-001 is intended for large- and giant-breed dogs which tend to have shorter lifespans than smaller dogs. As a result of selective breeding, large dogs produce more IGF-1 hormone than required post-maturity. This is believed to reduce their lifespan relative to smaller dogs. LOY-001 addresses this overexpression in adult dogs with the aim of reducing age-associated diseases and extending healthy lifespan. LOY-001 is a long-acting injection delivered by veterinarians every three to six months.
LOY-002 is intended for senior dogs of at least 14 lb. LOY-002 is believed to improve metabolic health with the aim of reducing age-associated disease and extending healthy lifespan, so dogs live longer and maintain their quality of life as they age. As a follow-up to their ongoing research on LOY-002, Loyal has launched a nationwide clinical study called STAY, designed to provide efficacy and field safety data to support FDA approval.
LOY-003, like LOY-001, is also intended for large- and giant-breed dogs and targets the same IGF-1 overexpression while being designed as a daily pill.

Insights from the Precision Medicine World Conference 2024

Tara Crawford Parks, PhD, and Sanna Abbasi, PhD — Tue, 06 Feb 2024 21:08:57 GMT

This year’s 2024 Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC) was held from January 24-26th at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Silicon Valley, California. Like previous years, the conference was a pivotal gathering of experts at the forefront of healthcare and genomics and brought together thought leaders, innovators, and professionals to delve into precision medicine and health.

Reflecting on the annual American Society of Human Genetics conference 2023

Sanna Abbasi, PhD — Tue, 14 Nov 2023 21:42:55 GMT

This year marked an important milestone for the annual American Society of Human Genetics (ASHG) conference—the largest global meeting of human genetics researchers and experts, from 77 countries this year—as the Society celebrated its 75th anniversary. The ASHG scientific conference included invited speaker sessions, platform discussions, poster presentations , and more. ASHG also held its annual exhibitor conference, showcasing biotechnology vendors and industry experts. Outdoing the previous year, a total of 8,289 people registered for the 5-day event including 1,443 exhibitors.

Highlights from the 2023 European Society of Human Genetics conference

Sanna Abbasi, PhD — Tue, 18 Jul 2023 20:22:54 GMT

Like last year, this year’s annual European Society of Human Genetics (ESHG) conference was a hybrid event, taking place both virtually and in-person in Glasgow, Scotland, U.K. from June 10-13, 2023. ESHG is a distinguished conference, with thousands of registered attendees. This conference provides an international platform for the discourse of advances in human genetics with various representatives from both academia and industry. In total, 168 abstracts were selected for platform presentations, and roughly half (56%; 91 abstracts) were presented by early career award candidates.

A faster and more affordable path to FDA clearance

Sanna Abbasi, PhD, and Jayden Hess — Mon, 10 Jul 2023 15:51:00 GMT

When developing a clinical or diagnostic test or assay for patient use, a strong indicator of device effectiveness and safety is a recognized designation from the United States regulatory body, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA). Acknowledgement by the FDA is beneficial if the device in question is to be marketed to the U.S. population for human health purposes.

Revisiting the Saliva and Liquid Sampling Australia 2023 conference

Sanna Abbasi, PhD — Wed, 05 Jul 2023 14:39:13 GMT

From May 31st to June 2nd, 2023, the fourth Saliva and Liquid Australia (SALSA) conference was held both remotely and in-person at Waurn Ponds Estate in Victoria, Australia. SALSA is an international, Australian-based conference that highlights technological innovation in saliva and liquid bio-sampling for applications in human health and diseases. Annually, SALSA brings together a broad range of experts from academia, diagnostics, and biotechnology industries.

Top 5 research and industry advances of 2022

Sanna Abbasi, PhD, and Zachary Stubits — Wed, 08 Mar 2023 16:34:39 GMT

As we take our first steps into 2023, now seems like a good time to look back and reflect on 2022. Set against a backdrop of the continuing global COVID-19 pandemic, ongoing research breakthroughs across several science and medical fields, and intensifying interest in living healthier lifestyles, 2022 proved to be an eventful year for scientific research and industry.

OraSure Technologies — with its subsidiary companies DNA Genotek, Novosanis, and Diversigen — is pleased to commemorate this past year by going over our cross-company list of the top 5 research and industry advances of 2022. Without further ado and in no particular order:

Getting the big picture from the Festival of Genomics conference 2023

Tara Crawford Parks, PhD, and Sanna Abbasi, PhD — Fri, 10 Feb 2023 19:51:11 GMT

With the advent of the new year, DNA Genotek was pleased to attend the 8th annual Festival of Genomics (FOG) conference in-person in London, U.K., from January 25-26, 2023. This year, FOG focused on multiple important topics within the genomics field including advances in sequencing approaches, clinical genomics, cancer genomics, single-cell and spatial analysis, liquid biopsies, integrating biodata into a workflow, and multi-omics. Below, we discuss some of the big picture takeaways from our attendance at this conference.

Spotlighting our presentations at the Precision Medicine World Conference 2023

Sanna Abbasi, PhD, and Arya Mehta — Fri, 03 Feb 2023 14:37:58 GMT

Kicking off the new year, the annual Precision Medicine World Conference (PMWC) took place in-person at the Santa Clara Convention Center in Santa Clara, California from January 25-27, 2023. PMWC is the largest international meeting of experts dedicated to precision medicine. At this conference, OraSure Technologies, Inc. had speakers on behalf of its subsidiary companies Novosanis, Diversigen, and DNA Genotek. If you were unable to attend any of these four presentations, we have captured the highlights for you here.

Highlights of our experience at AACC 2022

Arya Mehta — Mon, 05 Dec 2022 15:01:42 GMT

Highlights of our experience at AACC 2022

Our teams from DNA Genotek, Novosanis, and OraSure came together at AACC 2022, where we had the opportunity to meet industry experts, leading healthcare professionals, as well as our customers. We also hosted a scientific workshop at the conference.