Revealing the Invisible: How NADMED Is Making Metabolism Measurable
In healthcare and research, getting the right information at the right time can make all the difference. That’s exactly what Finnish biotech company NADMED is working to provide. By measuring key molecules involved in our body’s metabolism, NADMED is helping researchers and clinicians see things that were once hard to track—offering new possibilities in how we study, monitor, and one day treat disease.
Our cells rely on molecules called NADs (Nicotinamide Adenine Dinucleotides) and glutathione to function properly. These molecules are central to how the body makes energy, handles stress, and stays in balance. Changes in their levels have been linked to many different diseases, including neurological problems, long COVID, and various metabolic and age-related conditions. Thus, measuring their levels is significant.
Scientists have known this for years. But until recently, measuring these molecules accurately has been a challenge. The process was slow, expensive, and required highly specialised equipment. It wasn’t something most labs could do regularly, and it certainly wasn’t ready for everyday clinical use.
NADMED’s technology changes that. Spun out of the University of Helsinki, the company has created a simple and scalable way to measure all four key NADs, along with two types of glutathione, using just a small sample of blood. The test works with standard lab equipment and delivers results faster and at a lower cost than older methods. And NADMED’s technology even offers new possibilities: it is the only method that is capable of measuring the reduced forms of NADs (NADH and NADPH).
This means more researchers, hospitals, and labs around the world can now access reliable data on these important molecules, which is why several research institutions, pharmaceutical companies, and clinical labs, spanning the entire globe, has already taken up their CE-marked kits.
Right now, NADMED’s focus is on enabling better research and diagnostics. Their tests help scientists understand how NAD and glutathione levels change with disease or treatment. Pharmaceutical companies use the data to study how their drugs affect metabolism. And clinicians working with patients who have complex, hard-to-diagnose conditions are starting to use this information to get a clearer picture of what’s happening in the body.
But there’s also a bigger vision.
In the future, NADMED hopes that metabolic data—like the kind they measure—can help build a new layer of personalised medicine. If this data is collected at scale, and combined with other health information such as genetics, lifestyle, or symptoms, it may be possible to use AI to find patterns that humans can’t easily detect.
These patterns could help identify early warning signs of disease, predict how a person might respond to a specific treament or medicine, or suggest more targeted ways to manage health. It could even help pharma companies find the right audiences for medicine that seemed to have no use.
As NADMED grew from a university research project into an internationally operating company, it received valuable support from the NOME. Through NOME, the team was able to connect with experienced life science professionals who helped shape its business plan, understand regulatory needs, and prepare for entering new markets.
“The mentoring we received through NOME was definitely helpful,” says Jari Närhi. “Especially in those early stages, having access to people who had built life science companies before—people who knew the pitfalls and the possibilities—was incredibly valuable. It helped us think more clearly about the business side of things.”
These mentors didn’t just offer business advice—they helped the team think more strategically about how to bring their innovation to the people who need it and their guidance has had a lasting impact.
“Their understanding of how the pharma market works, or the medical and clinical market as well, how does it operate in different corners of the world. What is important here, what do we need to pay attention to. That has been essential,” says Jari Närhi.
And NOME has been able to assist in other areas as well.
NADMED was part of the 2024 US camp in Boston, and the introduction to different players in this incredibly important market was, as Jari says, “Very, very valuable.” In 2024, NADMED also raised €3.5 million in funding to expand its work—particularly into the U.S. market, that they got such a good intro to, and the company is also focused on growing its presence in clinical and pharmaceutical settings, building more research partnerships, and continuing to collect data that will help shape how these tests can be used in everyday healthcare.
NADMED isn’t making wild promises. The team knows that changing how diagnostics work—especially when it comes to something as complex as metabolism—takes time. But they are confident that they’re building something with long-term value: a practical tool that works today, and a foundation for more personalised, data-driven care in the future.