HUNTing for unique health information HUNT Biosciences is offering access to the HUNT Databank.

This biobank represents a unique combination of health information related to phenotype, genotype and environmental factors including life style parameters. HUNT Data can be used within biomarker validation, studies on disease specific cohorts and post marketing investigations for health economic and safety assessments.

HUNTing for high-quality confirmatory data on novel biomarkers.

The HUNT Biobank is ideally positioned to match the growing needs in biomarker discovery and validation. Well-defined case-control cohorts can be selected from a large and well-equipped biobank. The vast amount of phenotypic information connected to each DNA sample would provide high-quality confirmatory data on newly discovered markers.

• Precise and extremely broad phenotypic information resulting in high specificity
• Information on disease onset and progression through clinical measurements and data on medication provide additional insight
• Genetic risk factors can be interlinked with lifestyle and environmental data to generate specific risk profiles
• Longitudional information and genealogy data offer additional validation in as much as 10.000 trios

HUNTing for new treatments in the era of predictive, preventive and personalised medicine.

Subjecting disease-specific cohorts from HUNT Biobank to whole genome mapping studies will generate comprehensive maps of genetic variability for defined diseases. Combined with the large amount of precise phenotypic and environmental information collected during the HUNT studies, they provide a strong basis for the discovery and development of novel diagnostic and therapeutic products:

• Association studies to identify genetic risk factors, novel markers and target pathways
• Identification of patient subgroups to support genotype-driven clinical investigations and patient stratification
• Novel pharmacogenetic insights by combining information on genotype, clinical parameters and medication
• Core strengths in key public health areas such as cardiovascular diseases, diabetes, obstructive lung disease, osteoporosis and mental health

HUNTing for improved product performance: Support of reimbursement and post-marketing investigations.

The connection of HUNT data and the National Prescription Registry generates novel opportunities for reimbursement and post-marketing investigations. Untreated individuals, individuals treated with the drug of interest or with competitive products exhibiting a similar or different mode-of-action, can be identified and analysed to obtain a detailed understanding of treatment results, dosing and side-effects.

• SNP analysis to determine genetic variations in targeted pathway(s) and in genes associated with potential side-effects
• Individual SNP profiles can subsequently be connected to extensive phenotypic information (clinical, lifestyle and environmental data)
• Identification of responders/non-responders and identification of patients at risk for certain side-effects
• Patient stratification for development of follow-up products.