A $350 genetic test developed by researchers at Mayo Clinic in Rochester, Minn., and subsequently licensed to Phenomic Sciences, seeks to assign risk scores to patients regarding their likelihood of responding well to GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy or Ozempic.
The test, known as the MyPhenome Hungry Gut, evaluates a patient's response to the drugs by looking for close to 6,000 changes across 22 genes involved in the brain-to-gut signaling pathway that either tells a person to stop eating or continue doing so. Machine learning algorithms assign a score after this analysis and label each patient as either "Hungry Gut positive" or "Hungry Gut negative" — meaning that the hormone response is normal or abnormal.
A small-scale study of 84 patients used the test to predict responses to the blockbuster weight loss drugs and found that those who were classified as "Hungry Gut positive," lost, on average, 19% of their starting weight in a 12-month period. However, individuals who were classified as "Hungry Gut negative" only lost around 10% of their original weight in the same time.
"Our data support that obesity has a strong genetic and biological basis that varies within patients living with obesity," Maria Daniela Hurtado Andrade, MD, PhD, an endocrinologist and assistant professor of medicine at Mayo Clinic, said in a news release. "Furthermore, our results underscore the potential of individualizing therapy to improve outcomes that will ultimately translate into improved health."
The test is around $350 according to CNN and must be ordered by a healthcare provider.