FinnGen selects Olink to accelerate leading Population Health Study

UPPSALA, Sweden, June 13, 2022 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Olink Holding AB (publ) (Nasdaq: OLK) today announced that FinnGen in Finland will use Olink technology to provide detailed proteomics data to improve understanding of human health.

FinnGen, is a large-scale academic/industrial research collaboration in Finland with the scope to collect and analyze genomic and health data from 500,000 Finnish biobank participants. It is one of the very first personalized medicine projects aiming to provide novel, clinically relevant insights while also constructing a world-class resource that can be applied for future studies.

The FinnGen study has so far identified over 400 new disease-associated loci where the associated gene variant is enriched in the Finnish population. Olink has been chosen by FinnGen to provide comprehensive proteomics profiling of up to 2500 individuals as part of the study. These findings can serve as the basis for further functional studies in combination with high quality proteomics, providing the potential for new insights into disease mechanisms.

“We welcome Olink on board. Olink Proteomics’ cutting-edge technology was selected after consideration of the high data quality, the specificity, and its global recognition from large scale proteomics projects such as the UKBB as the proteomics technology of the future. Olink’s platform will provide detailed and comprehensive proteomics data covering all major biological pathways and processes. These data will be generated from a subset of study participants who carry some of these medically and clinically interesting genetic variants,” said Aarno Palotie, FinnGen Scientific Director from the Institute for Molecular Medicine Finland (FIMM), University of Helsinki. “Olink can help us build a foundation for health innovations and personalized treatments. We hope that our study will stimulate researchers and businesses from around the world to join the journey into personalized healthcare.”

FinnGen brings together Finnish biobanks, University Hospitals and their respective Universities, the Finnish Institute of Health and Welfare (THL), the Finnish Red Cross Blood Service, the Finnish Biobanks – FINBB, leading, international pharmaceutical companies and hundreds of thousands of Finnish citizens.

“We are very pleased to be part of the FinnGen project. The fact that Olink was selected by FinnGen, certainly underscores the trust in Olink and our proprietary Proximity Extension Assay (PEA) technology, which combines high throughput, high-quality protein-level measurements into data that can be trusted to uncover actionable insights which are key to achieving breakthroughs in disease prevention, diagnosis, and treatment,” said Henk Mouthaan, Vice President Sales and Marketing EMEA, Olink Proteomics.

Olink’s platform based on the proprietary PEA technology is developed and optimized to detect and identify with very high specificity 3000 proteins across all major biological pathways for a wide array of sample matrices such as serum and plasma.

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About FinnGen
The FinnGen study, launched in Finland in 2017, is a unique study that combines genome information with digital health care data. The FinnGen study plans to analyze up to 500,000 samples collected by a nation-wide network of Finnish biobanks. The project aims to improve human health through genetic research, and ultimately identify new therapeutic targets and diagnostics for treating numerous diseases. It produces near complete genome variant data from all the 500,000 participants using GWAS genotyping and imputation and will utilize the extensive longitudinal national health register data available on all Finns. FinnGen is an exceptionally broad academic-pharma partnership having considerable public funding support from Business Finland (former Tekes). University of Helsinki is the organization responsible for the study. http://www.finngen.fi/en

About Olink
Olink Holding AB (Nasdaq: OLK) is a company dedicated to accelerating proteomics together with the scientific community, across multiple disease areas to enable new discoveries and improve the lives of patients. Olink provides a platform of products and services which are deployed across major pharmaceutical companies and leading clinical and academic institutions to deepen the understanding of real-time human biology and drive 21st century healthcare through actionable and impactful science. The Company was founded in 2016 and is well established across Europe, North America and Asia. Olink is headquartered in Uppsala, Sweden.

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