This biotech aims to transform the diagnosis of mental illness. Michael Phelps backs it. Can it really work?

A small Australian biotech has drawn big-name backers — including swimming superstar Michael Phelps — to its audacious goal: to develop a quick, cheap, and objective way to diagnose an array of mental illnesses.

The tool would be a stunning breakthrough in the field of mental health —  if it works.

And there’s the rub. Researchers have been trying for decades to find reliable biomarkers for mental illness — that is, tangible biological clues that conclusively indicate whether a person has a particular psychiatric disease. Effort after effort has failed, leaving doctors to diagnose such conditions mostly on the basis of screening checklists and conversations with their patients.

Now, Medibio — a public company that trades on the Australian stock exchange at less than 30 U.S. cents per share — says it’s developed an algorithm based on hundreds of biomarkers related to a patient’s sleep, heart rate,