Berg, a biopharmaceutical company committed to a data-driven, biological research approach, and the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai have formed a five-year pharmaceutical and diagnostic R&D partnership to leverage the power of multi-omic biology and data analytics to obtain novel insights and potential therapeutics for cancer, central nervous system and endocrine disorders. Berg will leverage its Interrogative Biology platform in combination with Mount Sinai's experience in big data, advanced analytics and biological network modeling.

Berg and Mount Sinai will adopt an innovative risk and return sharing approach, with downstream royalties significantly higher than the industry standard for academia-pharma partnerships. "The partnership with Mount Sinai flips the traditional public-private partnership model and sets a new standard for pharmaceutical research and development," said Niven R. Narain, co-founder, president and chief technology officer of Berg. "Innovation in the healthcare industry extends far beyond scientific and technological advances. In order to address some of the world's worst health crises, we need to be open to such new and innovative ways of working together.”

Eric Schadt, Ph.D., professor of genomics at the Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai, and director of the Icahn Institute for genomics and multiscale biology, part of the Mount Sinai Health System, said, "Working with Berg, we plan to analyze big data and create predictive models to discern similarities and differences in disease patterns, identify the most effective treatment and diagnostics and, ultimately, provide better care for our patients."

Berg and Mount Sinai will engage in research projects involving genomics, proteomics, lipidomics, metabolomics and functional phenotypes, with the goal to advance treatment options for cancer, CNS and endocrine disorders, as well as inflammation and obesity and infectious and rare disease patients. Additionally, the partnership hopes to develop diagnostic tools to improve pharmacovigilance, diagnosis of disease and markers of therapeutic efficacy.