Metabolon is an industry leader in the discovery of biomarkers through the use of metabolomics, a powerful and new scientific approach for the discovery and development of drugs and the early diagnosis of disease states.

Metabolomics is the study of the repertoire of representative small molecules including some well-known compounds such as glucose, cholesterol, ATP, and lipid signaling molecules. These molecules are the ultimate product of cellular metabolism. The Metabolome refers to the catalogue of those molecules in a specific organism, e.g. the human metabolome.

By analyzing a sample using multiple mass spectrometry-based technologies, integrating the data and analyzing through proprietary software and algorithms, our scientists can develop an understanding of a disease state much faster and more accurately than previously possible. Metabolon's metabolomic technology provides data that is much less complex, more informative and more quantitative than any previous technology allowing Metabolon to make significant advances in almost all areas of pharmaceutical product development. Applied practically, this process can identify safer compounds for development, shorten the time for drugs to get to market and identify biomarkers for earlier disease detection.

John Ryals was one of the co-founders who, in 2002, started Metabolon. Having already launched one successful venture in 1997 (Paradigm Genetics) that went public in 2002, John Ryals had high expectations for Metabolon but found it hard to acquire funding after the venture capital bubble burst in 2001. It took a year to receive funding, but he was eventually able to find a venture capital firm to back his idea in 2003. A problem arose when Metabolon started finding applications of their technology that could help people but were in an area that was not commercially viable. This is when the SBIR program came to their attention.

Metabolon plans to use the SBIR program to create methods for diagnosing and treating "Orphan" health areas; diseases with less than 200,000 patients. While this is still a large number, the research and development costs of creating these products makes them commercially unviable and unattractive to private investment. With SBIR funding Metabolon could develop these technologies to a stage where they could be taken over by pharmaceutical company for distribution. The demand for treatment and detection of these diseases is not enough to convince a pharmaceutical manufacturer to invest in the research, but Metabolon is poised to develop the products needed if they could only get the necessary funding.

One such disease is Lou Gherig's disease, for which Metabolon received a Phase I grant from the NIH to investigate the application of their metabolomic technology to its detection. They received the grant in April of 2003 and submitted a phase II in December of 2005. Metabolon sees the SBIR program as a great way of helping the treatment of diseases which may not get as much attention as more common diseases. To help their chances they are trying to have a presence at as many of the events as possible and keep an eye out for relevant proposal topics.