Crohn’s disease is a complex disease with heterogeneous manifestations. Timely diagnosis, monitoring of established disease, and selection of optimal treatments are hindered by the lack of diagnostic tools. For example, there is often a delay in the initial diagnosis of Crohn’s disease, leading in turn to a delay in starting effective treatment, and potentially increasing the risk of a more severe and complicated disease course.

Helmsley is committed to advancing the identification, development, and validation of diagnostic tools to improve the lives of people living with Crohn’s disease. Our strategy focuses on supporting initiatives in the key focus areas listed below, with an emphasis on non-invasive, point-of-care and cost-effective diagnostic tools and technologies. We support diverse approaches to addressing unmet needs in these areas, including molecular and omics biomarkers, disease indices and standards, imaging modalities and analysis, and novel technologies and devices.

Key Focus Areas:

Diagnosis

• Early, rapid and accurate diagnosis of Crohn’s disease at or before the onset of symptoms
• Early detection of complications, such as penetrating disease and stricture formation
• Identification and further refinement of disease phenotypes at diagnosis and throughout the course of the disease

Prognosis

• Identification of patients who are at risk for a more aggressive disease course, penetrating disease, fibrosis, or fistulas, to support targeted preventative treatment

Monitoring

• Non-invasive monitoring of disease activity and response to therapy

Prediction

• Prediction of a patient’s likely response to different therapies, to support the selection of the optimal treatment for each individual patient
• Prediction or early detection of the recurrence of disease, including post-operative disease recurrence