Standard BioTools announces publication on study using SomaScan Platform

Standard BioTools (LAB) announced that its SomaScan Platform played a pivotal role in a study published in the current issue of Nature Medicine titled “Proteomic changes upon treatment with semaglutide in individuals with obesity”. Conducted by a team of researchers from Novo Nordisk (NVO) A/S and collaborators, this seminal paper investigated the effects of semaglutide on the circulating proteome from two independent phase 3 trials. Measuring approximately 6,400 human proteins in nearly 2,000 participants, the study uncovered significant changes in key protein biomarkers associated with metabolic pathways, providing new insights into the biological mechanisms of semaglutide and its potential to have broader health benefits beyond obesity. With obesity rates continuing to rise globally, there is increasing interest in developing therapies that address both the condition and its associated health risks, with GLP-1 drugs emerging as the leading option becoming one of the fastest growing and largest drug classes in history. Furthermore, there are many follow-on novel, combinatorial or similar approaches in the pharma pipeline. Semaglutide, a GLP-1 receptor agonist, is a widely used therapeutic for obesity and metabolic disorders, yet its molecular effects on the proteome are not well understood. Using the SomaScan assay, researchers identified changes across hundreds of proteins, offering a deeper understanding of semaglutide’s mode of action and new insights into the biological pathways underpinning its benefits, paving the way for accelerated development of future therapies. The SomaScan Technology provided the following unique advantages in this breakthrough research: Unique Mechanistic Insights: SomaScan revealed specific effects of semaglutide on proteins and pathways, many of which were shown to play a causal role in a variety of indications beyond obesity, as well as insights into additional drug benefits. Reliable and Reproducible Results: The SomaScan assay’s precision ensured consistent, quantitative findings across two independent phase 3 studies. Furthermore, many of the mechanistically relevant and potentially causal proteins discovered are not consistently measurable on any other platform. Accelerated Clinical Development for Novel Indications: A validated 27-protein predictor of cardiovascular outcomes applied to these studies correctly detected previously observed cardiovascular benefits of semaglutide in Novo’s SELECT study, reaching a high degree of statistical significance despite being only a small fraction of its size and duration. This highlights the ability of proteomics to characterize potential or unexpected health benefits earlier, from smaller and shorter clinical studies that were not otherwise powered to detect them. These findings reinforce the critical role of proteomics in advancing precision medicine and highlight how SomaScan is uniquely capable of driving innovation in drug development.