The importance of time: Grifols seeks biomarkers for early diagnosis of disease

Through a pioneering initiative called Chronos-PD, Grifols is partnering with the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson’s Research (MJFF) to identify early biological signals of Parkinson’s Disease (PD) in historical plasma samples.

According to the MJFF, PD affects nearly 1 million people in the US alone and more than 6 million worldwide. The condition occurs when the brain cells required to make dopamine, a chemical that coordinates movement, are damaged. Despite decades of research and treatment advancement, understanding of the drivers of PD remains limited, and by the time the disorder is detected it is often too late to slow its progression, much less reverse the neurological deterioration.

This leaves early detection of biomarkers as one of the most urgent needs for making further headway in therapeutic interventions. Through a grant from the MJFF, the Chronos-PD initiative is using high-tech analysis led by Grifols subsidiary Alkahest to look for early PD signals in a unique Grifols repository of longitudinal plasma samples covering a period of up to a decade. This offers a one-of-a-kind view into all the phases of PD evolution at a molecular level.

The hope is to use these insights to develop new diagnostic tools to identify the disease earlier, as well as inform new treatments.

To find out more, pharmaphorum spoke with Dr Jörg Schüttrumpf, Chief Scientific Innovation Officer at Grifols, and Scott Lohr, Senior Vice President of Informatics at Alkahest.

Breakthrough plasma-protein science

Plasma in the blood reflects a wide range of processes happening in the human body, from ageing to disease onset and progression.

“The Chronos-PD initiative is based on the scientific principle that the composition and concentration of plasma, including plasma proteins, change over time due to age and illness,” said Schüttrumpf. “This provides valuable insights into present and future health.” By studying these longitudinal changes, Grifols aims to identify early indicators of disease before formal diagnosis.

Chronos-PD is attempting to go back in time to identify the ‘data spots’ along a 10-year trajectory of samples that show disease commencement and advancement over that duration.

This groundbreaking research leverages Grifols’ global leadership in plasma science and plasma therapeutics. For over a century the company’s increasing understanding of the universe of circulating plasma proteins (the plasma proteome) has led to critical scientific advances and treatments, including immunoglobulins to treat immune system disorders. Meantime, Alkahest has specialised in the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and integrative analysis of multiomics and real-world data in diagnostic and therapeutic drug discovery.

“Grifols’ extensive plasma bank, containing more than 100 million specimens collected over nearly 15 years, is one of the largest in the world,” explained Schüttrumpf. “Connected to real-world health data, it enables researchers to link samples to thousands of illnesses, such as PD, diagnosed years after sample collection, while the samples themselves reflect biological changes before the first symptoms appear.”

Early diagnosis matters

Certainly, biomarkers are receiving increased attention and discussion across the R&D landscape, particularly in the context of early detection. This is especially true in the field of neurodegenerative diseases, as well as oncology and autoimmune disorders.

“Chronos is really trying to bring forth the true dream of precision medicine: right patient, right time, right drug, well before clinical diagnosis,” said Lohr. “This will be a powerful tool for pharma, both on the diagnostic and ultimately the therapeutic front.”

Identifying Parkinson’s disease as soon as possible is crucial: the earlier the disease is detected, the better the chance of protecting patients from progressive damage. Whilst there are not yet therapies approved that can halt progression of PD altogether, it is the hope that Chronos-PD will help identify targets for effective therapies and advance their development to the point where they can treat patients.

“When we see changes in biomarkers early on, these could have a disease-modifying function. They may serve as potential targets for future therapies,” explained Schüttrumpf.

Chronos-PD: The technology behind it all

Uncovering insights and biomarkers from thousands of samples and protein datasets – proteomes – would be a challenging or impossible tasks to perform through manual analysis or with traditional tools.

AI enables the platform to process complex vast biological datasets at unprecedented scale. And Grifols does this using different proteomic and proprietary AI platforms to scan the deep proteome across samples and decipher protein changes between them. The AI component allows for processing all that proteomics data, together with patient data and real-world evidence.

“It's a very nuanced approach of AI, machine learning, and traditional biostatistics, so we want to be extra precise when translating it into clinical practice,” stated Lohr.

Beyond PD: Broader platform potential

Although the focus at the moment is on PD, Grifols’ platform is believed to hold promise for many diseases.

“There is potential for application in other neurological and degenerative diseases, as well as metabolic diseases,” said Schüttrumpf. “Basically, all diseases that develop over time could be studied. To this end, Grifols is seeking partnerships like the current one with the Michael J. Fox Foundation to utilise the potential ability to make this incredible sample collection, and the great science behind it, available to fight some of the most pressing public health challenges out there.”

Dr Schüttrumpf will discuss the Chronos-PD initiative at the upcoming Reuters Pharma 2025 conference in Barcelona, 9th-11th April.

About the interviewees

Dr Jörg Schüttrumpf is the Chief Scientific Innovation Officer of Grifols, where since late 2023 he has strengthened the company’s work to enhance patient care with innovative plasma medicines and other biopharmaceuticals. Until September 2024, he was also Chief Scientific Officer at Biotest AG and a member of its Board of Management. Before joining Biotest AG in 2012, Dr Schüttrumpf worked at different academic and non-government organisations in Germany and the US. This includes the German Red Cross Blood Donor Service, the Goethe University Frankfurt, the University Hospital of Essen, The Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia, and the University of Pennsylvania. Dr Schüttrumpf is a trained physician-scientist specialised in Transfusion Medicine and Hemostaseology, with degrees from Goethe University Frankfurt and Albert-Ludwigs-University Freiburg. He has an MBA from IMD Business School, Lausanne.

Scott Lohr is Senior Vice President of Informatics at Alkahest. He has more than two decades of biotechnology experience with an emphasis on data management and analysis systems. His biotechnology journey started at Chiron, where he was on the cGMP manufacturing team for the multiple sclerosis drug Betaseron. Lohr then moved into bioinformatics as the field of functional genomics expanded and developed expertise in the area of data modeling of scientific workflows. Over the next two decades, he worked at large and small companies such as Genentech and Crescendo Bioscience, managing the storage, analysis, and distribution of data for in-house cancer genome projects to commercial diagnostics products. Lohr received his Bachelor of Science in Molecular Biology and Biochemistry from the University of California, Santa Cruz.

About Grifols

Grifols is a global healthcare company founded in Barcelona in 1909 committed to improving the health and well-being of people around the world. A leader in essential plasma-derived medicines and transfusion medicine, the company develops, produces and provides innovative healthcare services and solutions in more than 110 countries.

Patient needs and Grifols’ ever-growing knowledge of many chronic, rare and prevalent conditions, at times life-threatening, drive the company’s innovation in both plasma and other biopharmaceuticals to enhance quality of life. Grifols is focused on treating conditions across four main therapeutic areas: immunology, infectious diseases, pulmonology and critical care.

A pioneer in the plasma industry, Grifols continues to grow its network of donation centers, the world’s largest with close to 400 across North America, Europe, Africa and the Middle East, and China.

As a recognized leader in transfusion medicine, Grifols offers a comprehensive portfolio of solutions designed to enhance safety from donation to transfusion, in addition to clinical diagnostic technologies. It provides high-quality biological supplies for life-science research, clinical trials and for manufacturing pharmaceutical and diagnostic products. The company also supplies tools, information and services that enable hospitals, pharmacies and healthcare professionals to efficiently deliver expert medical care.

Grifols, with more than 23,800 employees in more than 30 countries and regions, is committed to a sustainable business model that sets the standard for continuous innovation, quality, safety and ethical leadership.

The company’s class A shares are listed on the Spanish Stock Exchange, where they are part of the IBEX-35 (MCE:GRF). Grifols non- voting class B shares are listed on the Mercado Continuo (MCE:GRF.P) and on the U.S. NASDAQ through ADRs (NASDAQ:GRFS).

For more information about Grifols, please visit www.grifols.com