Home > Resources > Articles > Drug Target Review Issue 1 2019

Drug Target Review Issue 1 2019

In this issue: AI-driven automated chemistry as a tool to accelerate drug discovery processes, the shifting landscape of immuno-oncology, and how lipid molecules provide an insight into biological research.

Spotlight

Grasse BIOTECH

Grasse BIOTECH - Hotel of innovation companies and support of startups in the field of cosmetologies, biotechnologies, health, life sciences and scientific research and analysis activities of the Pays de Grasse, benefits from added value linked to a privileged project accelerator environment. On the ArômaGrasse Business Park where are hosted more than 15 companies such as: Perfume Cosmetic World, TOMCOS, SelectArôme ... mostly PASS (Perfumes, Aromas, Scents, Flavors). In connection with Espace Jacques-Louis Lions where are located: o the InnovaGrasse business incubator, o the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis: training in fine chemistry master 2 FOQUAL, its students, professors and researchers in a place conducive to teaching and research (classrooms, laboratories, exchange rooms ...), o Technological and regulatory resources represented by the PASS Competitiveness Cluster and its partnership analytical chemistry platform, whose objective is to strengthen R & D by bringing researcher

OTHER ARTICLES
MedTech

Better Purification and Recovery in Bioprocessing

Article | July 13, 2022

In the downstream portion of any bioprocess, one must pick through the dross before one can seize the gold the biotherapeutic that the bioprocess was always meant to generate. Unfortunately, the dross is both voluminous and various. And the biotherapeutic gold, unlike real gold, is corruptible. That is, it can suffer structural damage and activity loss. When discarding the dross and collecting the gold, bioprocessors must be efficient and gentle. They must, to the extent possible, eliminate contaminants and organic debris while ensuring that biotherapeutics avoid aggregation-inducing stresses and retain their integrity during purification and recovery. Anything less compromises purity and reduces yield. To purify and recover biotherapeutics efficiently and gently, bioprocessors must avail themselves of the most appropriate tools and techniques. Here, we talk with several experts about which tools and techniques can help bioprocessors overcome persistent challenges. Some of these experts also touch on new approaches that can help bioprocessors address emerging challenges.

Read More
Research

2 Small-Cap Biotech Stocks You Haven't Heard of, But Should Know About

Article | July 11, 2022

With everything that's going on with the COVID-19 pandemic, many healthcare companies have grabbed plenty of spotlight during these challenging times. At the same time, a number of otherwise promising businesses have slipped under the radar. That's especially true for small-cap biotech stocks that aren't actively involved in developing tests, vaccines or treatments for COVID-19. Vaccine developers, protective equipment producers, and healthcare service providers are all attracting plenty of attention during this pandemic, but there are just as many promising biotech stocks that aren't involved in these areas. Here are two such companies that you might have missed, but they deserve a spot on your watch list.

Read More
MedTech

Making Predictions by Digitizing Bioprocessing

Article | July 12, 2022

With advances in data analytics and machine learning, the move from descriptive and diagnostic analytics to predictive and prescriptive analytics and controls—allowing us to better forecast and understand what will happen and thus optimize process outcomes—is not only feasible but inevitable, according to Bonnie Shum, principal engineer, pharma technical innovation, technology & manufacturing sciences and technology at Genentech. “Well-trained artificial intelligence systems can help drive better decision making and how data is analyzed from drug discovery to process development and to manufacturing processes,” she says. Those advances, though, only really matter when they improve the lives of patients. That’s exactly what Shum expects. “The convergence of digital transformation and operational/processing changes will be critical for the facilities of the future and meeting the needs of our patients,” she continues. “Digital solutions may one day provide fully automated bioprocessing, eliminating manual intervention and enabling us to anticipate potential process deviations to prevent process failures, leading to real-time release and thus faster access for patients.” To turn Bioprocessing 4.0 into a production line for precision healthcare, real-time release and quickly manufacturing personalized medicines will be critical. Adding digitization and advanced analytics wherever possible will drive those improvements. In fact, many of these improvements, especially moving from descriptive to predictive bioprocessing, depend on more digitization.

Read More
MedTech

Next-Gen Genetics Cancer Therapies Creating Investment Prospects

Article | July 5, 2022

Genetic therapeutics such as genetic engineering and gene therapy are increasingly emerging as one of the most influential and transformed biotechnological solutions around the globe in recent times. These genetic solutions are being assessed across various medical domains, including cancer treatment, neurology, oncology, and ophthalmology. Citing the trend, the genetics industry is estimated to experience a tsunami of approvals, with over 1,000 cell and gene therapy clinical trials currently underway and over 900 companies worldwide focusing on these cutting-edge therapies. Growing Cancer Encourages Advancements in Genetic Technologies With the surging cases of cancers such as leukemias, carcinomas, lymphomas, and others, patients worldwide are increasing their spending on adopting novel therapeutic solutions for non-recurring treatment of the disease, such as gene therapy, genetic engineering, T-cell therapy, and gene editing. As per a study by the Fight Cancer Organization, spending on the treatment of cancer increased to $200.7 billion, and the amount is anticipated to exceed $245 billion by the end of 2030. Growing revenue prospects are encouraging biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies to develop novel genetic solutions for cancer treatment. For instance, Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., a Japanese pharmaceutical company, introduced a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy, Abecma, for the treatment of relapsed or refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma in 2022. Amid a New Market: Genetics Will Attract Massive Investments Despite several developments and technological advancements, genetics is still considered to be in a nascent stage, providing significant prospects for growth to the companies that are already operating in the domain. Genetics solutions such as gene therapies, gene editing, and T-cell immunotherapy are emerging as highly active treatments across various medical fields, resulting in increasing research and development activities across the domain, drawing significant attention from investors. Given the potential of genetic treatments and the focus on finding new ways to treat cancer and other related diseases, it's easy to understand why companies are investing in the domain. For instance, Pfizer has recently announced an investment of around $800 million to construct development facilities supporting gene therapy manufacturing from initial preclinical research through final commercial-scale production. Due to these advancements, cell and gene therapies are forecast to grow from $4 billion annually to more than $45 billion, exhibiting growth at a 63% CAGR. The Future of Genetics Though there is a significant rise in advancement in genetic technologies and developments, the number of approved genetic treatments remains extremely small. However, with gene transfer and CRISPR solutions emerging as new modalities for cancer treatment, the start-up companies will attract a growing amount and proportion of private and public investments. This is expected present a tremendous opportunity for biopharma and biotechnology investors to help fund and benefit from the medical industry's shift from traditional treatments to cutting-edge genetic therapeutics in the coming years.

Read More
MedTech

Next-Gen Gene Therapy to Counter Complex Diseases

Article | July 13, 2022

In the downstream portion of any bioprocess, one must pick through the dross before one can seize the gold the biotherapeutic that the bioprocess was always meant to generate. Unfortunately, the dross is both voluminous and various. And the biotherapeutic gold, unlike real gold, is corruptible. That is, it can suffer structural damage and activity loss. When discarding the dross and collecting the gold, bioprocessors must be efficient and gentle. They must, to the extent possible, eliminate contaminants and organic debris while ensuring that biotherapeutics avoid aggregation-inducing stresses and retain their integrity during purification and recovery. Anything less compromises purity and reduces yield. To purify and recover biotherapeutics efficiently and gently, bioprocessors must avail themselves of the most appropriate tools and techniques. Here, we talk with several experts about which tools and techniques can help bioprocessors overcome persistent challenges. Some of these experts also touch on new approaches that can help bioprocessors address emerging challenges.

Read More
Research

2022 U.S. Market Research Report with COVID-19 Forecasts2

Article | July 11, 2022

With everything that's going on with the COVID-19 pandemic, many healthcare companies have grabbed plenty of spotlight during these challenging times. At the same time, a number of otherwise promising businesses have slipped under the radar. That's especially true for small-cap biotech stocks that aren't actively involved in developing tests, vaccines or treatments for COVID-19. Vaccine developers, protective equipment producers, and healthcare service providers are all attracting plenty of attention during this pandemic, but there are just as many promising biotech stocks that aren't involved in these areas. Here are two such companies that you might have missed, but they deserve a spot on your watch list.

Read More
MedTech

Expansion of BioPharma: Opportunities and Investments

Article | July 12, 2022

With advances in data analytics and machine learning, the move from descriptive and diagnostic analytics to predictive and prescriptive analytics and controls—allowing us to better forecast and understand what will happen and thus optimize process outcomes—is not only feasible but inevitable, according to Bonnie Shum, principal engineer, pharma technical innovation, technology & manufacturing sciences and technology at Genentech. “Well-trained artificial intelligence systems can help drive better decision making and how data is analyzed from drug discovery to process development and to manufacturing processes,” she says. Those advances, though, only really matter when they improve the lives of patients. That’s exactly what Shum expects. “The convergence of digital transformation and operational/processing changes will be critical for the facilities of the future and meeting the needs of our patients,” she continues. “Digital solutions may one day provide fully automated bioprocessing, eliminating manual intervention and enabling us to anticipate potential process deviations to prevent process failures, leading to real-time release and thus faster access for patients.” To turn Bioprocessing 4.0 into a production line for precision healthcare, real-time release and quickly manufacturing personalized medicines will be critical. Adding digitization and advanced analytics wherever possible will drive those improvements. In fact, many of these improvements, especially moving from descriptive to predictive bioprocessing, depend on more digitization.

Read More
MedTech

Next-Gen Genetics Cancer Therapies Creating Investment Prospects

Article | July 5, 2022

Genetic therapeutics such as genetic engineering and gene therapy are increasingly emerging as one of the most influential and transformed biotechnological solutions around the globe in recent times. These genetic solutions are being assessed across various medical domains, including cancer treatment, neurology, oncology, and ophthalmology. Citing the trend, the genetics industry is estimated to experience a tsunami of approvals, with over 1,000 cell and gene therapy clinical trials currently underway and over 900 companies worldwide focusing on these cutting-edge therapies. Growing Cancer Encourages Advancements in Genetic Technologies With the surging cases of cancers such as leukemias, carcinomas, lymphomas, and others, patients worldwide are increasing their spending on adopting novel therapeutic solutions for non-recurring treatment of the disease, such as gene therapy, genetic engineering, T-cell therapy, and gene editing. As per a study by the Fight Cancer Organization, spending on the treatment of cancer increased to $200.7 billion, and the amount is anticipated to exceed $245 billion by the end of 2030. Growing revenue prospects are encouraging biotechnology and biopharmaceutical companies to develop novel genetic solutions for cancer treatment. For instance, Bristol-Myers Squibb K.K., a Japanese pharmaceutical company, introduced a B-cell maturation antigen (BCMA)-directed chimeric antigen receptor (CAR) T cell immunotherapy, Abecma, for the treatment of relapsed or refractory (R/R) multiple myeloma in 2022. Amid a New Market: Genetics Will Attract Massive Investments Despite several developments and technological advancements, genetics is still considered to be in a nascent stage, providing significant prospects for growth to the companies that are already operating in the domain. Genetics solutions such as gene therapies, gene editing, and T-cell immunotherapy are emerging as highly active treatments across various medical fields, resulting in increasing research and development activities across the domain, drawing significant attention from investors. Given the potential of genetic treatments and the focus on finding new ways to treat cancer and other related diseases, it's easy to understand why companies are investing in the domain. For instance, Pfizer has recently announced an investment of around $800 million to construct development facilities supporting gene therapy manufacturing from initial preclinical research through final commercial-scale production. Due to these advancements, cell and gene therapies are forecast to grow from $4 billion annually to more than $45 billion, exhibiting growth at a 63% CAGR. The Future of Genetics Though there is a significant rise in advancement in genetic technologies and developments, the number of approved genetic treatments remains extremely small. However, with gene transfer and CRISPR solutions emerging as new modalities for cancer treatment, the start-up companies will attract a growing amount and proportion of private and public investments. This is expected present a tremendous opportunity for biopharma and biotechnology investors to help fund and benefit from the medical industry's shift from traditional treatments to cutting-edge genetic therapeutics in the coming years.

Read More
MORE ARTICLES

Spotlight

Grasse BIOTECH

Grasse BIOTECH - Hotel of innovation companies and support of startups in the field of cosmetologies, biotechnologies, health, life sciences and scientific research and analysis activities of the Pays de Grasse, benefits from added value linked to a privileged project accelerator environment. On the ArômaGrasse Business Park where are hosted more than 15 companies such as: Perfume Cosmetic World, TOMCOS, SelectArôme ... mostly PASS (Perfumes, Aromas, Scents, Flavors). In connection with Espace Jacques-Louis Lions where are located: o the InnovaGrasse business incubator, o the University of Nice Sophia-Antipolis: training in fine chemistry master 2 FOQUAL, its students, professors and researchers in a place conducive to teaching and research (classrooms, laboratories, exchange rooms ...), o Technological and regulatory resources represented by the PASS Competitiveness Cluster and its partnership analytical chemistry platform, whose objective is to strengthen R & D by bringing researcher

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Medical

NiKang Therapeutics Completes $200 Million Series C Financing to Advance Highly Differentiated Small Molecules Addressing Difficult-to-Drug Targets

NiKang Therapeutics | May 31, 2021

NiKang Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biotech company focused on developing innovative small molecule oncology medicines to assist patients with unmet medical needs; today announced the completion of an oversubscribed $200 million Series C financing led by Cormorant Asset Management, HBM Healthcare Investments, and Octagon Capital Advisors with participation from a premier syndicate of funds, including new investors EcoR1 Capital, Perceptive Advisors, Wellington Management, Ally Bridge Group, Pavilion Capital, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, RA Capital Management, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Samsara BioCapital, PFM Health Sciences, Invus, Janus Henderson Investors and Logos Capital. All existing investors, including CBC Group, RTW Investments, LP, Lilly Asia Ventures, Matrix Partners China, and Casdin Capital, participated in the financing. About the funding, Bing Yao, Ph.D., former CEO and chairman of Viela Bio, and Ting Jia, Ph.D., founder and chief investment officer of Octagon Capital Advisors, will join NiKang’s Board of Directors. “We are thrilled to have such an outstanding group of investors as our shareholders,” said Zhenhai Gao, Ph.D., co-founder, president, and chief executive officer of NiKang. “Their support of our vision allows us to build the world’s leading precision oncology company. We are now well-positioned to rapidly advance our pipeline into the clinic, including our differentiated HIF-2 alpha inhibitor, and to bring our company to the next level of growth.” “This financing is a testament to the quality of our science and team,” Kelsey Chen, Ph.D., MBA, chief financial officer, added. “Since joining NiKang, I have witnessed the passion and dedication of a group of talented scientists who are devoting their lives to advancing treatments for patients. We are grateful to be recognized by such a high-caliber group of investors.” “NiKang has made remarkable progress over the last eight months since our initial investment,” said Ting Jia, Ph.D., a chief investment officer of Octagon. “We are impressed by the team’s accomplishment. We believe NiKang’s unique approach to attacking difficult-to-drug targets offers promising opportunities to develop breakthrough treatments for cancer patients. We are excited to co-lead the series C financing and partner with the NiKang team to accelerate its growth.” “We are proud of what NiKang has achieved since its inception,” said Sean Cao, executive chairman of NiKang and managing director of CBC Group, which incubated the company. “The strength of this group of investors validates NiKang’s achievements and demonstrates their confidence in NiKang’s potential to grow into a leading innovative drug company.” Proceeds will be used to advance the company’s lead drug candidates into the clinic, expand the pipeline, and fund internal drug discovery programs. About NiKang Therapeutics NiKang Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech company focused on discovering and developing innovative small molecule oncology medicines to assist patients with unmet medical needs. Our target selection is driven by deep insights into disease biology and molecular pathways. Our discovery approach is informed by target structure biology and capitalizes on structure-based drug design. The successful implementation of our strategy enables us to rapidly and efficiently discover and advance proprietary drug candidates with the most desirable pharmacological features into clinical studies. We strive to bring transformative medicines to patients in need.

Read More

Medical

TeselaGen Biotechnology Announced the Launch of a New Protein Optimization Toolkit for Automated Biotherapeutic Drug Design and Development

TeselaGen Biotechnology | May 21, 2021

TeselaGen Biotechnology today announced the launch of a new protein optimization toolkit for biotherapeutic drug design and development, introducing significant enhancements to the company’s flagship TeselaGen® OS to form designing and developing pharmaceuticals and biotherapeutics faster and fewer expensive. The new capabilities, easily accessible via the cloud-based platform, simplify the planning of highly complex combinatorial protein libraries and support AI models for optimizing new peptides and proteins. New application programming interfaces (APIs) and integration tools have also been extended to further enhance users’ access to the new capabilities. TeselaGen integrates the facility of AI with one end-to-end platform for design, construction, data gathering, and analysis of bioproduct performance, from pharmaceuticals to food and fabrics, significantly accelerating time to plug and reducing costs. The platform’s DESIGN, BUILD, TEST, and find out modules enable researchers to effectively collaborate across an organization's development pipeline to style and build experiments, standardize and share data, and learn and preserve project results by embedding them during a machine learning model. TeselaGen’s DESIGN is an intuitive, user-interface-driven module that permits scientists to style highly complex combinatorial libraries. With this new release, the planning now supports aminoalkanoic acid parts which will be efficiently mapped to DNA. TeselaGen can then automatically generate biology protocols for efficiently synthesizing and assembling the corresponding DNA libraries. TeselaGen’s DISCOVER now supports AI models which will recommend new peptides and proteins supported by the training of supervised and unsupervised learning models. The platform also supports the modeling of unnatural amino acids and multicriteria optimization of proteins. R&D groups can utilize the TeselaGen OS to hurry the invention process. Datasets are uploaded and arranged within the platform and immediately useful for model building within TeselaGen’s DISCOVER module. TeselaGen has demonstrated that it can increase the planning and build speed of biological products and reduce the prices related to research & development by an order of magnitude. Current partnering companies are using the new capabilities for designing antibodies and optimizing their binding affinity, titer, specific productivity, immunogenicity, or other phenotypic variables of interest. Researchers also are looking to TeselaGen for rapidly engineering new vaccines - using methods like virus-like particles (VLPs), DNA, and RNA vaccines - opening the door to attacking rapidly mutating RNA and retroviruses like influenza, HCV, HIV, or coronaviruses. About TeselaGen Biotechnology TeselaGen Biotechnology has developed the primary artificial intelligence-enabled OS for biotechnology, enabling the event and commercialization of high-performance bioproducts – from pharmaceuticals to food to fabrics – faster and easier than ever. TeselaGen® connects biologists, lab technicians, and bioinformaticians so that they will collaboratively design and build experiments, organize and standardize data then test and continually learn from the info. TeselaGen has been deployed by Fortune 50 companies and emerging innovators in biopharmaceuticals, agriculture, and specialty chemicals. the corporate is privately held and based in San Francisco, California.

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AI

Iktos Partners with Kadmon to Use AI for New Drug Design

Iktos, Kadmon | May 19, 2021

Iktos, a company specializing in Artificial Intelligence for new drug design, announced today that it has signed a Research Collaboration Agreement with Kadmon, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in New York, USA, under which Iktos' generative modeling artificial intelligence (AI) technology will be used to allow the rapid and cost-effective design of novel drug candidates. Iktos will use its de novo structure-based generative modeling technologies to find novel compounds that meet a pre-defined target product profile as part of the deal, to speed up Kadmon's early-stage discovery efforts. Kadmon discovers, develops, and delivers small molecules and biologics for the treatment of human diseases. Intending to identify and develop new product candidates for significant unmet medical needs, Kadmon is expanding and incorporating novel drug discovery platforms. The AI technology developed by Iktos, which is focused on deep generative models, aids in the speed and efficiency of the drug discovery process. Iktos' technology creates virtual novel molecules that have all of the properties of a successful drug molecule automatically. This approach, which has been validated by Iktos' other collaborations, is an innovative approach to one of the most difficult problems in drug design: finding molecules that meet several important drug criteria at the same time, such as potency, selectivity, safety, and project-specific properties. Iktos' technology enables the creation of new hits with optimal protein-ligand interactions in early-stage discovery projects, as predicted by molecular modeling technology. This technique allows for a one-of-a-kind discovery of chemical space, as well as the development of innovative molecule designs with greater Freedom to Operate. Furthermore, allowing multi-parametric in silico optimization from the start of a project greatly reduces the hit finding and hit-to-lead optimization phases. About Iktos Iktos, a French start-up founded in October 2016, specializes in the development of artificial intelligence technologies for chemical research, especially medicinal chemistry, and new drug design. Iktos is working on a proprietary and innovative approach focused on deep learning generative models that allow users to build molecules in silico that follow all of the performance criteria of a small molecule discovery project using existing evidence. Iktos technology allows for significant efficiency gains in upstream pharmaceutical R&D. Iktos' software is utilized as both professional services and a SaaS software platform, Makya. Spaya, a synthesis planning software built on Iktos' proprietary AI technology for retrosynthesis, is also in the works.

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Medical

NiKang Therapeutics Completes $200 Million Series C Financing to Advance Highly Differentiated Small Molecules Addressing Difficult-to-Drug Targets

NiKang Therapeutics | May 31, 2021

NiKang Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biotech company focused on developing innovative small molecule oncology medicines to assist patients with unmet medical needs; today announced the completion of an oversubscribed $200 million Series C financing led by Cormorant Asset Management, HBM Healthcare Investments, and Octagon Capital Advisors with participation from a premier syndicate of funds, including new investors EcoR1 Capital, Perceptive Advisors, Wellington Management, Ally Bridge Group, Pavilion Capital, funds and accounts managed by BlackRock, RA Capital Management, Surveyor Capital (a Citadel company), Samsara BioCapital, PFM Health Sciences, Invus, Janus Henderson Investors and Logos Capital. All existing investors, including CBC Group, RTW Investments, LP, Lilly Asia Ventures, Matrix Partners China, and Casdin Capital, participated in the financing. About the funding, Bing Yao, Ph.D., former CEO and chairman of Viela Bio, and Ting Jia, Ph.D., founder and chief investment officer of Octagon Capital Advisors, will join NiKang’s Board of Directors. “We are thrilled to have such an outstanding group of investors as our shareholders,” said Zhenhai Gao, Ph.D., co-founder, president, and chief executive officer of NiKang. “Their support of our vision allows us to build the world’s leading precision oncology company. We are now well-positioned to rapidly advance our pipeline into the clinic, including our differentiated HIF-2 alpha inhibitor, and to bring our company to the next level of growth.” “This financing is a testament to the quality of our science and team,” Kelsey Chen, Ph.D., MBA, chief financial officer, added. “Since joining NiKang, I have witnessed the passion and dedication of a group of talented scientists who are devoting their lives to advancing treatments for patients. We are grateful to be recognized by such a high-caliber group of investors.” “NiKang has made remarkable progress over the last eight months since our initial investment,” said Ting Jia, Ph.D., a chief investment officer of Octagon. “We are impressed by the team’s accomplishment. We believe NiKang’s unique approach to attacking difficult-to-drug targets offers promising opportunities to develop breakthrough treatments for cancer patients. We are excited to co-lead the series C financing and partner with the NiKang team to accelerate its growth.” “We are proud of what NiKang has achieved since its inception,” said Sean Cao, executive chairman of NiKang and managing director of CBC Group, which incubated the company. “The strength of this group of investors validates NiKang’s achievements and demonstrates their confidence in NiKang’s potential to grow into a leading innovative drug company.” Proceeds will be used to advance the company’s lead drug candidates into the clinic, expand the pipeline, and fund internal drug discovery programs. About NiKang Therapeutics NiKang Therapeutics is a clinical-stage biotech company focused on discovering and developing innovative small molecule oncology medicines to assist patients with unmet medical needs. Our target selection is driven by deep insights into disease biology and molecular pathways. Our discovery approach is informed by target structure biology and capitalizes on structure-based drug design. The successful implementation of our strategy enables us to rapidly and efficiently discover and advance proprietary drug candidates with the most desirable pharmacological features into clinical studies. We strive to bring transformative medicines to patients in need.

Read More

Medical

TeselaGen Biotechnology Announced the Launch of a New Protein Optimization Toolkit for Automated Biotherapeutic Drug Design and Development

TeselaGen Biotechnology | May 21, 2021

TeselaGen Biotechnology today announced the launch of a new protein optimization toolkit for biotherapeutic drug design and development, introducing significant enhancements to the company’s flagship TeselaGen® OS to form designing and developing pharmaceuticals and biotherapeutics faster and fewer expensive. The new capabilities, easily accessible via the cloud-based platform, simplify the planning of highly complex combinatorial protein libraries and support AI models for optimizing new peptides and proteins. New application programming interfaces (APIs) and integration tools have also been extended to further enhance users’ access to the new capabilities. TeselaGen integrates the facility of AI with one end-to-end platform for design, construction, data gathering, and analysis of bioproduct performance, from pharmaceuticals to food and fabrics, significantly accelerating time to plug and reducing costs. The platform’s DESIGN, BUILD, TEST, and find out modules enable researchers to effectively collaborate across an organization's development pipeline to style and build experiments, standardize and share data, and learn and preserve project results by embedding them during a machine learning model. TeselaGen’s DESIGN is an intuitive, user-interface-driven module that permits scientists to style highly complex combinatorial libraries. With this new release, the planning now supports aminoalkanoic acid parts which will be efficiently mapped to DNA. TeselaGen can then automatically generate biology protocols for efficiently synthesizing and assembling the corresponding DNA libraries. TeselaGen’s DISCOVER now supports AI models which will recommend new peptides and proteins supported by the training of supervised and unsupervised learning models. The platform also supports the modeling of unnatural amino acids and multicriteria optimization of proteins. R&D groups can utilize the TeselaGen OS to hurry the invention process. Datasets are uploaded and arranged within the platform and immediately useful for model building within TeselaGen’s DISCOVER module. TeselaGen has demonstrated that it can increase the planning and build speed of biological products and reduce the prices related to research & development by an order of magnitude. Current partnering companies are using the new capabilities for designing antibodies and optimizing their binding affinity, titer, specific productivity, immunogenicity, or other phenotypic variables of interest. Researchers also are looking to TeselaGen for rapidly engineering new vaccines - using methods like virus-like particles (VLPs), DNA, and RNA vaccines - opening the door to attacking rapidly mutating RNA and retroviruses like influenza, HCV, HIV, or coronaviruses. About TeselaGen Biotechnology TeselaGen Biotechnology has developed the primary artificial intelligence-enabled OS for biotechnology, enabling the event and commercialization of high-performance bioproducts – from pharmaceuticals to food to fabrics – faster and easier than ever. TeselaGen® connects biologists, lab technicians, and bioinformaticians so that they will collaboratively design and build experiments, organize and standardize data then test and continually learn from the info. TeselaGen has been deployed by Fortune 50 companies and emerging innovators in biopharmaceuticals, agriculture, and specialty chemicals. the corporate is privately held and based in San Francisco, California.

Read More

AI

Iktos Partners with Kadmon to Use AI for New Drug Design

Iktos, Kadmon | May 19, 2021

Iktos, a company specializing in Artificial Intelligence for new drug design, announced today that it has signed a Research Collaboration Agreement with Kadmon, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company based in New York, USA, under which Iktos' generative modeling artificial intelligence (AI) technology will be used to allow the rapid and cost-effective design of novel drug candidates. Iktos will use its de novo structure-based generative modeling technologies to find novel compounds that meet a pre-defined target product profile as part of the deal, to speed up Kadmon's early-stage discovery efforts. Kadmon discovers, develops, and delivers small molecules and biologics for the treatment of human diseases. Intending to identify and develop new product candidates for significant unmet medical needs, Kadmon is expanding and incorporating novel drug discovery platforms. The AI technology developed by Iktos, which is focused on deep generative models, aids in the speed and efficiency of the drug discovery process. Iktos' technology creates virtual novel molecules that have all of the properties of a successful drug molecule automatically. This approach, which has been validated by Iktos' other collaborations, is an innovative approach to one of the most difficult problems in drug design: finding molecules that meet several important drug criteria at the same time, such as potency, selectivity, safety, and project-specific properties. Iktos' technology enables the creation of new hits with optimal protein-ligand interactions in early-stage discovery projects, as predicted by molecular modeling technology. This technique allows for a one-of-a-kind discovery of chemical space, as well as the development of innovative molecule designs with greater Freedom to Operate. Furthermore, allowing multi-parametric in silico optimization from the start of a project greatly reduces the hit finding and hit-to-lead optimization phases. About Iktos Iktos, a French start-up founded in October 2016, specializes in the development of artificial intelligence technologies for chemical research, especially medicinal chemistry, and new drug design. Iktos is working on a proprietary and innovative approach focused on deep learning generative models that allow users to build molecules in silico that follow all of the performance criteria of a small molecule discovery project using existing evidence. Iktos technology allows for significant efficiency gains in upstream pharmaceutical R&D. Iktos' software is utilized as both professional services and a SaaS software platform, Makya. Spaya, a synthesis planning software built on Iktos' proprietary AI technology for retrosynthesis, is also in the works.

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