History:
Athlomics Pty Ltd was established in Brisbane, Australia in January 2006. It finalised its purchase of a portfolio of eight international patent applications and other associated intellectual property in May 2006. Athlomics is now commercializing a patented panel of 310 immune biomarkers with applications for human molecular diagnostic and continuous patient monitoring tests.

Initial Market Focus:
Using a sub-set of its biomarkers, Athlomics is initially focusing on early sepsis diagnosis, a highly complex disease process for which no single biomarker is ever likely to be useful. The gold standard diagnostic is currently microbial culture which is slow and prone to false positives and negatives.

Sepsis, the most common cause of death in Intensive Care Units, has an annual cost to the global community of over US$ 30 billion. Early diagnosis of sepsis is crucial to improving patient outcomes, as delays often result in irreversible multi-organ failure. Currently, many patients are diagnosed too late, or not at all; earlier diagnosis has the potential to save billions in health care costs and decrease the indiscriminate use of antibiotics.

5 Year Company Vision:
Using sub-sets of its biomarkers, the 5 year aim for the company is to market point-of-care monitoring tests for patients 'at risk' of septicemia - that is, patients with a compromised immune system:

• cancer patients on chemotherapy
• babies and elderly people, and
• patients being given immunosuppressive therapy following organ transplants.

Other potential applications of the panel include monitoring immune 'status' in human athletes (over-training syndrome), other immune-related diseases (chronic fatigue syndrome) and 'wellness' (immune health assessment and disease prevention).