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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. 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