Flagship Pioneering has announced the launch of Etiome, a new company focused on transforming how diseases are detected and treated before they progress to irreversible stages. Built over four years with an initial $50 million commitment from Flagship, Etiome aims to lead a new category of healthcare known as preemptive medicine.

The company’s platform, Temporal Biodynamics, is described as the first end-to-end AI-powered system that can characterize disease progression over time. According to Etiome, this technology makes it possible to forecast how individuals are likely to advance along the disease continuum, confirm disease stages with temporally relevant biomarkers, and develop stage-specific therapies designed to halt or reverse disease progression before it becomes debilitating.

Avak Kahvejian, Founding CEO of Etiome and General Partner at Flagship Pioneering, said the platform integrates multimodal population-level data with single-cell omics and AI, offering new insights into the complex dynamics of disease biology. He explained that this approach enables the identification of disease “biostages” and supports the development of targeted medicines intended to intervene at critical windows of disease progression.

Etiome’s approach is based on the understanding that disease biology is dynamic and may require stage-specific interventions. The platform uses clinical, cellular, and molecular data, combined with proprietary AI models, to reveal unique temporal shifts in thousands of genes and proteins associated with specific diseases. This leads to the discovery of ‘Biostage Markers’ – biomarkers that indicate a patient’s position along the disease journey — and the identification of potential therapeutic targets.

Raj Panjabi, senior partner at Flagship and board director at Etiome, “Until now, healthcare practices for serious and progressive diseases have often been reactive, treating diseases after they have caused significant damage and resulting in patient decline that can be irreversible.

“Etiome is redefining how we think about disease progression and developing interventions precisely designed for critical intervention windows, at the earliest stages of disease – helping to slow, stop or even reverse it. This represents a significant shift towards preemptive medicine—a future where people can live healthier and longer lives.”

Initially, Etiome is focusing on creating Biostaged Medicines for metabolic, neurodegenerative, pre-cancerous, and autoimmune diseases. The company believes that targeted early interventions could reduce morbidity, lower healthcare costs, and improve healthy lifespan outcomes for large patient populations with unmet needs.

Scott Lipnick, co-founder and president of Etiome, said the company’s vision is to treat diseases at a point when intervention can make a profound difference in patient outcomes. He added that Etiome has spent the past four years building the foundation to move this vision into reality.

Etiome’s leadership team includes scientists and innovators from Flagship Pioneering’s network, including Noubar Afeyan, Torben Straight Nissen, Yann Echelard, and Katharine von Herrmann. Gregory Moore, a senior advisor at Gates Ventures and former health lead at Microsoft, also serves on Etiome’s board.

Further development updates and pipeline details are expected to follow as the company moves its first candidates into preclinical and clinical testing.