MENLO PARK, Calif., August 11, 2026 — Adaptyx Biosciences, a Stanford University spinout developing a wearable biosensing platform capable of measuring multiple biomarkers continuously and simultaneously, today announced a study to identify an objective molecular signature of chronic pain, conducted with Attune Neurosciences and funded through the Advanced Research Projects Agency for Health’s (ARPA-H) EVIDENT program. The 24-month, $4 million study is soon enrolling the first of what will be 100 adults with chronic pain, with an emphasis on U.S. military veterans. The study is the first public demonstration of the generalizable capabilities of Adaptyx’s platform, underpinned by Adaptyx’s Switch Foundry. To support this study, the Switch Foundry generated continuous sensing chemistry for five separate biomarkers. Adaptyx’s rapid biosensor development dramatically outpaces conventional development, which typically takes years per molecule. The EVIDENT program uses a single Adaptyx multi-analyte wearable sensor to read all five biomarkers in the body at the same time.
ARPA-H created EVIDENT to replace the subjective yardsticks that still dominate behavioral and mental health with objective, FDA-ready clinical endpoints that show whether a treatment is working. Chronic pain is a sharp example of the problem. It is assessed almost entirely through self-report: an intensity rating on a zero-to-10 scale, supplemented by descriptor checklists on which patients select words such as throbbing, burning, stabbing, or aching. Those instruments are validated and clinically useful, but they are difficult to compare across patients and they are disconnected from what is happening biologically. This study pairs continuous molecular monitoring with an active treatment to test whether measurable, objective signatures of pain emerge, and whether those signatures change as patients improve. The deliberate focus on veterans reflects the fact that chronic pain is more common among veterans than in the general population and has been repeatedly associated with elevated suicide risk.
Patients in Attune’s Phase II trial of its investigational focused ultrasound treatment, which is designed to target the brain circuits involved in chronic pain without surgery or medication, will wear Adaptyx sensors continuously during and for days surrounding their treatment sessions. The sensor reads five molecular biomarkers at once, including cortisol, lactate, and small-molecule metabolites associated with pain, tracking how they shift as pain changes. Wearables, including wireless EEG and smartwatches, will be used to track sleep, activity, and neural signals, building a synchronized, multimodal picture of pain and its relief with the molecular data at the center.
“Focused ultrasound has allowed us to restore function in brain areas that decide whether the body is experiencing pain or just normal sensation,” said Keith Murphy, co-founder and Chief Technology Officer of Attune Neurosciences. “What has been missing is a way to see whether there are real, measurable changes that underlie that experience. Combining our intervention that alters pain with Adaptyx’s continuous biomarker sensing will give us just that; an astoundingly sharp picture of how the brain and body respond together at the molecular level. This technological and scientific bridge is exactly the kind of evidence this field needs.”
Adaptyx’s Switch Foundry is what makes that sharper picture and understanding of the body possible. Continuous sensing has long relied on enzymatic mechanisms, which has limited sensing to a small number of molecules such as glucose, lactate, and ketones. This is why continuous glucose monitors exist, but little else does. The Switch Foundry uses high throughput techniques to design and optimize aptamer switches, engineered strands of DNA that change shape and provide an electrical signal when they bind their target. These switches extend continuous, real-time measurement to a far wider range of molecules. Three of the five markers in this study are pain-linked analytes that, according to Adaptyx, have never before been measured continuously in the body.
“Pain is complex and multifaceted, and no single molecule captures it, which is why measuring one marker was never going to be enough,” said Alex Yoshikawa, co-founder and Chief Scientific Officer of Adaptyx Biosciences. “The Switch Foundry lets us develop and iterate on new molecular sensors quickly, and pairing that with our multi-analyte sensor is what lets us see all five of these biomarkers in the same patient, in real time. Watching them move together is what could turn pain into something measurable. That is the proof of the platform, and it is a capability we can point at whatever we choose to measure next.”
“Our R&D platform already reads up to 16 markers at once, and we are building our first commercial product to read up to eight,” said Vijit Sabnis, co-founder and CEO of Adaptyx Biosciences. “Cortisol is where we start, but it is the first leg of a multi-analyte hormone panel, because the questions that matter most in chronic disease and women’s health are not answered by a single molecule. A program like this one is how we demonstrate that the platform can add molecules on demand, and that is the capability our commercial roadmap is built on.”
Commercially, Adaptyx is focused on continuous hormone monitoring. The company’s first product measures cortisol, and its roadmap is a single wearable patch that reads cortisol alongside additional hormones and metabolic markers for use in chronic conditions, women’s health, and metabolic health. The EVIDENT program is an early demonstration of the multi-analyte capability that powers Adaptyx’s roadmap.
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