The Power of Personalized Diagnostics: A New Era in Health with Dr. Murdoc Khaleghi, Chief Medical Officer of Molecular You

[00:00:01] This podcast is produced by Outcomes Rocket, your healthcare exclusive digital marketing agency. Outcomes Rocket exists to help healthcare organizations like yours to maximize their impact and accelerate growth. Visit outcomesrocket.com or text us at 312-224-9945.

[00:00:29] Hey everyone, welcome back to the Outcomes Rocket. So excited you joined us for another exciting episode with some of the best leaders in healthcare. Today I have the privilege of hosting Dr. Murdoc Khaleghi. He's the Chief Medical Officer of Molecular You. If the company sounds familiar, that's because we've had him on the podcast before. We'll leave a link to the previous episode we did with their Chief Scientific Officer in the show

[00:00:58] notes. But Dr. Khaleghi has helped launch a series of successful health technology companies with a focus on diagnostics. With degrees in medicine and bioengineering and computer science and business, Dr. Khaleghi has served as Founding Chief Medical Officer, Co-Founder and Board Member, approximately a dozen early stage technology companies with several exits. So his experience is awesome. And I'm so excited to have him here to represent the work that they're doing at Molecular You.

[00:01:28] So Murdoc, thanks so much for joining us. Thanks so much for having me, Saul. It's a pleasure. It's a pleasure. And so look, to get things kicked off, just want to start with really about you. What is it that got you into the business? And along with that story, tell us about Molecular You's testing and what most people don't realize you guys do. Absolutely. So I got into diagnostics almost by accident and similarly accidentally became passionate about them.

[00:01:56] So I was early in my medical career and a little frustrated with how health care works. Because before I had finished my training, I'd done some research in prevention and how we can forestall disease. But then now I'm practicing and I'm always seeing people after their heart attacks and after their strokes. And I wondered why there was this disconnect. Meanwhile, I experienced some of that disconnect because early in my career, I was really busy.

[00:02:25] I was just doing a lot. And I thought I was taking good care of my health. But between school and training and career and starting to launch companies, I perhaps was starting to neglect it without realizing it. And then years ago, the first early stage health tech venture I got involved with was one of the first consumer diagnostics companies. So being the chief medical officer of a diagnostic company, I started getting tested.

[00:02:53] Because that's just what you do when you work for a diagnostic company. Those diagnostics are applied that you get tested. And then I was starting to see what maybe I was willfully ignoring, which was some of my health indicators, whether it be lipids like cholesterol or blood sugar or other hormones were just getting out of whack. And I didn't realize it at the time because, again, this was going on inside me. I couldn't quite feel it. So I started doing what back then we thought were all the right things to do.

[00:03:22] I started running eight miles a day and eating a super low-fat diet. So seeing what was going on inside me got me very motivated. I was just motivated to do the wrong things at the time, which became evident on repeat testing. And some of my workers were not only getting better, but getting worse. And that's when I started to pay attention to some of the newer data we were seeing about, oh, maybe it's not just eating a low-fat diet. Maybe it's about healthier fats and not just filling it with a bunch of carbs.

[00:03:50] And maybe it's not just about how long you exercise, but the type of exercise you do and trying to build some muscle that helps you metabolize some of the more harmful things in your body. And a lot of my health indicators improved dramatically to a point where I should have decades of healthier life ahead of me, assuming something unpredictable doesn't happen.

[00:04:10] So that showed me the power of testing, both in motivating, because you can actually get that wake-up call of seeing what's going on inside, but then being able to do the right things to address it and being able to do all this before you're actually experiencing the consequences of some of those early warning signs. Well, I think it's awesome. And you were going to, I think you were about to jump into Molecular U, right? Well, that's what I love about Molecular U.

[00:04:38] So a lot of people have seen testing become more popular over the last 10 years. But 10 years ago, the idea of being able to just even get a test yourself that wasn't prescribed by a physician was heresy. And now people have embraced testing, either getting it directly or through their physician to get information about what's going on inside them. And I think that's wonderful. Where Molecular U really stands out compared to all testing that I've seen in healthcare and outside of healthcare is the sheer comprehensiveness.

[00:05:07] So the current Molecular U test is almost 300 biomarkers. And there are some testing platforms that come out with new markers that they say, hey, this might be able to help give you information about this or predict that. All the markers, Molecular U tests, the almost 300 tests, these are established biomarkers that have been known about for years, decades. Molecular U did not invent them.

[00:05:36] Where Molecular U's technology stands out is the ability, using its specialized mass spectroscopy technique, to be able to test so many markers at such an affordable cost, which is really just completely disruptive to the industry. There is no one that can test hundreds of markers at the cost like Molecular U. You can again, hundreds of established markers. That's a huge game changer.

[00:06:03] And how does Molecular U's approach to testing differ from traditional generic testing? I think you highlighted it, but let's dig in. Well, yeah, absolutely. It stands out in a few ways. One, like you said, is the sheer comprehensiveness. 300 markers. But it's not even 300 markers in a very specific area. It's 300 markers that comprise your entire physiological, biochemical organ system,

[00:06:30] so that you get this comprehensive overview of essentially all the fundamental tenets of your internal workings. And the beauty of that is having such a comprehensive picture, we no longer function like a lot of medicine can do, which is, we tend to be in medicine, we tend to be very discreet and very reductive. And we say, okay, this specific marker is out of whack. Your LDL cholesterol or this hormone. And let's address this.

[00:06:57] But because Molecular U does hundreds of markers, many of these markers interact in systems, whether they be organ systems or biochemical systems or physiological pathways. And so we can see a certain set of markers when they start to function abnormally. It becomes clear to us that, hey, there are issues in this system that need to be addressed. And the beauty of being able to look at it at the molecular level,

[00:07:26] that Molecular U enables this molecular medicine, all these molecular biochemical markers, is identify issues in these systems before they start to manifest in disease and symptoms. And you can address them before developing the disease and the symptoms. And when you're at a point where you're either treating or you can't treat. And that's where Molecular U really stands out in terms of the practice medicine.

[00:07:54] It enables this comprehensive that really hasn't, we haven't been able to do before in standard medicine. Yeah, I think that's super important. And I like what you highlighted about a lot of testing today focuses on specific, very small windows of particular things like lipids, right? And this kind of takes a broader view. Could you share any examples of how Molecular U testing has made a difference for patients,

[00:08:23] maybe helped identify diseases or big risks early on? Yeah, in the last year we had a case. And I should mention, when we talk about Molecular U testing, a lot of people think it's on the horizon. Like you're going to see it one day. The Molecular U test has been performed for years on thousands of people. It's just, it was originally that some of the technology was born out of another country and we're only recently adapting it for the United States and the United States healthcare system.

[00:08:52] So that's the only reason it hasn't been seen yet, but it's been very validated. We had a case a year or two ago. Where one of Molecular U's customers, who just gets the Molecular U test for a comprehensive overview of their health and any areas they need to address. After a couple rounds of fairly normal looking markers, they had, one of their tests, when one of their tests was performed, about half dozen markers were suddenly acting very abnormally,

[00:09:20] very differently than it was for her originally at her baseline. And so we looked at these different markers and they ranged in terms of the, what systems they were associated with, including inflammatory systems and some gastrointestinal organ pathways to a point where we were able to put all these together and said, Hey, are you having any gastrointestinal issues?

[00:09:48] Because particularly we're concerned about the area around your pancreas and we're concerned about potential cancer. And the client said, but I'm fine. So we encouraged seeing her doctor and getting further testing because Molecular U tries to enable doctors rather than go around them. So the doctor performed some imaging in that area and identified pancreatic cancer at a very early stage, stage one,

[00:10:14] which stage one is very treatable compared to usually the typical course with pancreatic cancer is you identify it when you're symptomatic. By the time you're symptomatic, it's very late stage, stage three or stage four. And your outcomes are either death or very invasive surgery with radiation and chemotherapy. So we were able to give this person a much better outcome.

[00:10:40] They had the surgery and then on follow-up testing, these markers had completely improved back to our baseline. And again, we weren't testing this person to try and find pancreatic cancer. That's a very specific and esoteric disease. We were just doing the comprehensive overall assessment that we typically do. And it picked up on pancreatic cancer, which I think demonstrates how when you're able to look at your molecular physiology so comprehensively,

[00:11:09] most disease processes work like this and you can identify them very early before they become so late stage or potentially terminal or much more difficult to treat and expensive. So that's one example. But again, you can apply this methodology to most disease states. I think that's great. And you would never think about something like that. And that's why a lot of times this pancreatic cancer, you find out so late in the game.

[00:11:36] Wouldn't it be nice if you could take a test that can get you that kind of information? And I think you can soon. So talk to us about when this is going to become available in the U.S. market. What are the biggest challenges and opportunities for you and molecular you in the U.S. market? Yeah. So the two major challenges in the U.S. market.

[00:11:57] One is just the current health care bricks and mortar infrastructure and getting set up logistically and operationally within that. And that's doable. I'd say the harder challenge is the mix of the regulatory and payment landscape. So right now, the way most diagnostics work is, again, somewhat discrete, somewhat reductive.

[00:12:24] You're supposed to—a physician is supposed to order this test for a specific reason and then reimburses that test. And usually the reimbursements are not that significant from health care insurers.

[00:12:41] The ideal use of the molecular you test, while it can be used to try and identify disease signatures or a person having certain symptoms and perform the test and get this overall assessment, the ideal use is being a comprehensive assessment, including being a preventative comprehensive assessment.

[00:13:02] And so while the molecular you test is not expensive by any means, in order of magnitude hundreds of dollars, which is comparable to most health care testing, the setting up the infrastructure for that test to be reimbursed is challenging because, again, that's not really how health care has worked. Health care operates on diagnoses and focusing on testing specific areas.

[00:13:29] And so being comprehensive, while that provides far more value to the individual and just makes far more sense. When we're seeing a doctor, we care about our overall health. You don't go to your doctor and say, could you just check out this one organ online or this one biochemical pathway or this one disease? Can you make sure I'm overall healthy? While molecular you does is aligned with how health care should operate and how patients want it to operate,

[00:13:55] it's not aligned with the current payment regulatory infrastructure. But, like you said, obstacles and challenges are opportunities. And so I think there's two opportunities. One is some of the work we're doing at Molecular U with our data and our research is identifying various disease processes and disease signatures

[00:14:21] so that when there is a specific concern about a disease or specific symptoms, the Molecular U test can enable, give information about that and can say, okay, well, the Molecular U test, we've learned that this subset of markers helps identify, I'll just use the pancreatic cancer example, or you could say risk for diabetes or heart disease. So we perform the Molecular U test. So it does have that discrete association that medicine currently looks for.

[00:14:48] But I think the other opportunity is rather than try and completely change for the broken health care infrastructure, we will do that adaptation with the disease states, but also work with health care leaders and regulatory officials to say, hey, there is this opportunity that hasn't existed before to really change how medicine is practiced, including the opportunity to save a lot of money while helping a lot of people.

[00:15:17] And so while we're going to support working on specific diseases and organs and that reductive discrete methods that health care operates, I think there's also the opportunity to make a culture shift within health care, similar to how 10 years ago, some early stage companies, including one of my own that I mentioned, was part of changing the landscape of how we see diagnostics and not solely getting that through the physician. So it's been demonstrated that these culture changes are possible. It just takes time. Yeah, that's great.

[00:15:47] And we need that time because our health system's not scalable in the way that it is. And I think of this test, Murdoch, as like an opportunity, right? I think finally we're starting to see some progress around value-based care. Programs like Medicare, they're really taking a stand on it. ACO reach. I see a lot of these groups right now that are incentivized to save on the cost of care while giving the best outcomes.

[00:16:17] I see them as great groups that can be targeted with a test like this. And there's millions of patients, millions that can benefit from this today. So very exciting. And I appreciate you sharing. Help paint a picture for the future for us here. What are you most excited about the potential for molecularly used technology to revolutionize healthcare? There's a lot of when we see emerging technologies, they tend to fall into one of two buckets.

[00:16:44] And that's technology that we get really excited about and we see all the potential of what it could do, but you're not sure exactly where it's going to land. And I can name a few technologies that fit in that, but we can all think of a few. But then there's technologies we see where once we say, oh, this is going to change the game.

[00:17:09] And I don't know when, whether it'll be in the next two years or five years or 10 years, but there's no world where in decades from now, when this technology exists, it's not going to be incorporated. And that's where I see molecular use technology. I mentioned we do approximately 280 markers right now and very cost effectively.

[00:17:34] If you were to think about it in terms of a value-based care value per marker, there's nothing that no test that even comes close. We're working on a panel of 800 markers. Now, again, that's 800 established markers that we're just able to identify using our technique.

[00:17:51] I do not see a world where decades from now we have the ability to test so much, so comprehensively, and so cost effectively to be able to identify disease so early and the specific way those diseases can be addressed. That's another beauty of molecular use. I didn't mention a lot of diseases. For example, dementia have different ways they happen. It can be blood sugar dysregulation or inflammatory pathways.

[00:18:18] Anyways, it's one thing to know you're at risk for dementia and try and do everything to reduce your risks, but it's another thing to be able to actually look at your physiology and see where those risks lie and address those specific risks. So I do not see a world where we have the ability to do that and we're not utilizing it. So to me, it's one of those technologies that's just inevitable. And so that's what really excites me.

[00:18:42] It's just a question of how quickly we can get it adopted and incorporated in an infrastructure that's not currently set up for that. But I agree with you with the movement towards value-based care and all these other attempts to try and improve the system. I think we're going to get there. To me, it's inevitable. It's just a question of when. I love it. No, that's awesome. And look, guys, I think you guys are probably saying, man, Dr. Kolegi's got a point here. Well, he does.

[00:19:12] And the beauty of this is that this is available. It will be available in the U.S. It's been available outside, but it will be available. When is it coming to the U.S.? Do you know yet? Yeah. So we're currently doing some of the final transfer work. We're set up with a partner lab in our first partner lab in the United States. We're setting up our phlebotomy infrastructure, so the ability to draw the blood. And by the way, a lot of people ask, 280 markers, how much blood do you need? One vial.

[00:19:41] And unlike some companies years ago that promised a lot of information from a small amount of blood, again, we've actually been performing this test for quite a while and it's been validated. So we're setting up all those logistics and operations. We're hopeful in the next few months, should there be no unexpected blips, there's a lot of like certifications we have to have within the lab, but it should be sometime 2025. Amazing.

[00:20:07] Well, hey, make sure you reach out to me when it is available so we can let all of our viewers and listeners know. It will definitely be an exciting moment to make that type of diagnostic tool accessible to all of us, whether consumers, physicians, employers, payers. We all need to know about this. If people want to learn more now, where can they reach out to you and how do they keep up?

[00:20:33] Yeah, I'd say the best way is just go to the Molecular U website, molecularu.com, and contact us through the site. It's been amazing. Whenever I talk to people about the test or whenever we as the company talk to people, whether it's individuals like yourself or at conferences, everyone wants to be ready when it's live or try to get tested, which I think speaks a bit to the need and the value that it creates.

[00:20:59] So similarly, don't hesitate to contact us on our website so that we know when we're in your area, we can help enable that. There you have it, folks. Go to molecularu.com. Check out the show notes. We'll leave all the ways to get in touch with Dr. Murdoch Kaleggi. He is the chief medical officer at Molecular U. Make sure you check them out and stay up to date because this will be available soon. Murdoch, such a pleasure to have you with us. This was a lot of fun. That was great talking to you, Saul.

[00:21:29] Thank you for having us. This podcast is produced by Outcomes Rocket, your healthcare exclusive digital marketing agency. Outcomes Rocket exists to help healthcare organizations like yours to maximize their impact and accelerate growth.

[00:21:56] Visit outcomesrocket.com or text us at 312-224-9945. Outcomes Rocket.