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6A I DAWSON COUNTY NEWS I dawsonnews.com
Wednesday, July 10,2019
How this Gainesville company plans to give
doctors new tool in fighting opioid addiction
Scott Rogers DCN Regional Staff
Pro-Genex CEO Robbie Rupard, right, and President and CEO Brett Grauss are leading the Gainesville pharmacogenomics com
pany in starting a project that will hypothetically lead to predicting the risk level of opioid addiction with patients.
'We figured out if we got the right team members together that were of a like
mindset, we could do a study on 1,000 patients for somewhere between
$400,000-$500,000.'
Robbie Rupard, CEO of Pro-GeneX
By Kelsey Richardson
DCN Regional Staff
One opioid prescription
can be all it takes to
launch into the downward
spiral of addiction.
Pro-GeneX, a pharma
cogenomics company in
Gainesville, aims to offer
a tool for physicians to
help them better gauge a
person’s propensity for
opioid addiction, before
writing the prescription.
“Our goal when we’re
finished, is to have a
deliverable for physicians
that will use genetic
information and an algo
rithm to produce a risk
score,” Robbie Rupard,
CEO of Pro-GeneX said.
“This will give a doctor
comfort when they feel
like they need to give a
little bit more, and give
them caution when
they’ve got one to worry
about.”
Rupard and Brett
Grauss, CEO of Pro-
GeneX Laboratories,
established the company
more than four years ago
and have continued to
provide individualized
genetic profiles for
patients. They do this by
analyzing a person’s
DNA and putting the
results into a program,
which gives a list of med
ications that work for the
specific patient.
Rupard said he built the
lab with Grauss with the
intentions of “getting a
genetic test done cheap
er.” After accomplishing
this feat, they looked
toward broadening the
scope of the company’s
impact.
That’s when Rupard and
Grauss came across a
2017 case study conduct
ed by a research group at
Pennsylvania State
University. The study pro
vided a predictive score
for a patient’s genetic risk
for opioid addiction. The
team gathered data
through analyzing DNA
from 37 patients with pre
scription opioid or heroin
addiction, and 30 age and
gender matched controls.
Rupard said through
looking at the study’s
sensitivity, specificity and
predictive score, he felt
confident in the data.
“We thought, ‘Why
isn’t this in use today?”’
Rupard said. “The obvi
ous answer is the patient
sample size is too small.”
Feeling inspired,
Rupard and Grauss brain
stormed a way to take the
study to the next level.
They decided to extend
the population to 1,000
patients, while also cutting
down on the project’s cost.
Rupard said Penn
State’s 67-patient study
was funded by the
National Institute of
Health for $690,000.
“We figured out if we
got the right team mem
bers together that were of
a like mindset, we could
do a study on 1,000
patients for somewhere
between $400,000-
$500,000,” he said.
Finding the
dream team
Like most who get
excited about a new idea,
Rupard and Grauss began
to share their thoughts
with those within the med
ical and genetics fields.
Word of Pro-GeneX’s
proposed study found its
way to Dr. Lynn Webster,
a pain researcher and
physician known for his
expertise in the field of
pain management.
Webster serves as the vice
president of scientific
affairs of the research
organization, PRA Health
Sciences, and was the for
mer president of the
American Academy of
Pain Medicine.
Rupard said Webster has
developed online tools for
physicians to use in deter
mining a patient’s propen
sity for addiction. While
Penn State examined peo
ple’s genetic links, Webster
created a six-question
assessment. The question
naire asks about a patient’s
personal and family history
of substance abuse, age,
psychological diseases and
history of preadolescene
sexual abuse.
After Rupard and Grauss
talked with Webster about
their study idea, the physi
cian jumped on board.
“Dr. Webster has a
whole system of treating
the socioeconomic
aspects of addiction,”
Grauss said. “That, com
bined with a genetic
panel that truly is a pre
dictive model, can change
the world, in his words.”
To make the team com
plete, Rupard said they
needed someone to spear
head the study’s design
— someone who under
stood genetics and health
care analytics.
Nicoleta Serban, a pro
fessor in the H. Milton
Stewart School of
Industrial and Systems
Engineering at the Georgia
Institute of Technology,
filled this slot.
While Pro-GeneX will
conduct the DNA testing,
Serban’s work involves
designing the study. This
includes deciding what
the sample population
will look like.
“This is the right direc
tion for health care and
change for me in my
research interests,” Serban
said. “These decision tools
can lead the way in per
sonalized medicine.”
Gathering
the samples
Serban said the study’s
sample population will
include 500 people who
have prescription opioid
addiction and a control
group of 500.
Pro-GeneX provides
medication risk manage
ment services in long
term care and behavioral
health facilities through a
partnership with
Primerica. Through this
alliance, Rupard said his
company shouldn’t have
an issue collecting study
participants.
He intends to start gath
ering the DNA samples
this fall. The genetic
information will be
extracted through cheek
swabs and sequenced at
Pro-GeneX’s lab.
Rupard said the first step
in the study entails identi
fying where to get the par
ticipants, and the second
involves enrolling those
people and testing them.
This will then be followed
by a DNA analysis, and
development of the algo
rithm to gauge the opioid
addiction risk levels.
Why people
should care
Dallas Gay, one of the
lead organizers of
Partnership for a Drug
Free Hall, said the genetic
link to opioid addiction
has been known for quite
some time. While some
people become addicted
to opioids quickly and
severely, he said others
may not experience the
same effects.
“That being the case, it
would be invaluable for
people to know if they
have that genetic link,”
Gay said. “They may not
have been told of anyone
in their family who has
been addicted to drugs or
they may not know it.”
Gay said he supports
Pro-GeneX’s study
because it could lead to
not only informing people
about their level of risk,
but helping physicians
who prescribe the drugs.
“Today’s opioid epi
demic is so strong,” he
said. “We lose 70,000
people a year in the U.S.
It’s amazing how many
people don’t know how
big and real it is.”
Grauss said the study
has a personal link to
everyone at Pro-GeneX.
For years he coached
youth football in Alpharetta.
Grauss said he will never
forget one of his former
players who died from an
overdose at 26 years old.
“He was fine and per
fectly healthy,” he said.
“He had some back inju
ries, and he was loaded
up on Percocet and got
addicted. It was just a
downhill spiral from
there. I think everybody
in the community has a
story like that.”
Now that Pro-GeneX is
launching its study,
Rupard said he’s excited
to make a positive impact
on the opioid epidemic.
“We discovered this
information, and it’s not a
magic bullet, there’s no
such a thing in health
care,” he said. “But, if
we’re one step closer to a
solution, and we can
move the needle by 1%,
the amount of people we
can save is huge.”
Although Rupard and
Grauss plan to come up
with their own funds for
the study, they’re accept
ing donations through the
company’s nonprofit. For
more information about
the study or to make a
donation, contact Pro-
GeneX at (404) 419-
7915. The company is
headquartered at Brenau
University’s Business
Incubator at 999 Chestnut
St. SE in Gainesville.
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