Turn one thing previous into one thing new. That’s the thought behind Repurpose.AI, a San Diego-based startup that combs by drug candidates that handed section I scientific trials, however won’t have made it to commercialization.
The startup not too long ago struck a partnership with Danish drugmaker LEO Pharma, to pinpoint potential candidates for inflammatory and dermatology indications. It additionally started working with the Scripps Research Institute a couple of months in the past to establish potential therapies for Covid-19.
With LEO Pharma, the partnership can be by its Open Innovation program. Repurpose.AI would be capable to check any molecules it discovers utilizing the drugmaker’s analysis assets.
“Collaborating with a range of partners from around the world, from academic researchers to biotechs and big pharma, allows us to connect up the dots in ways that we would not otherwise be able to,” LEO Pharma stated in a information launch.
Repurpose.AI searches by a library of medication which have handed security and tolerability checks, however have by no means been put to make use of. About 500 compounds per yr fail after section I scientific trials, CTO and Founder Dr. George Nicola stated. The firm can parse by roughly 15,000 of those drug candidates and one other 5,000 which have gained FDA approval.
The firm makes use of machine studying to establish patterns within the molecules that aren’t readily discernible. It can also extract hundreds of descriptors for every molecule.
“It’s those subtle similarities that result in molecular activity that can only be attributable to the binding of the protein receptor,” Nicola stated in a cellphone interview. “It’s inputting into the AI all of the features, letting it crunch the numbers and various patterns, to find those responsible for the binding. It’s much more of a brute force approach to discovery.”
Nicola teamed up with Nex Cubed Healthcare Managing Director Daniel Haders to begin the corporate final yr. Prior to founding it, he had hung out researching cheminformatics and molecular modeling on the Scripps Research Institute and at UC San Diego.
Repurpose.AI has additionally been creating three candidates internally for the remedy of gastric, neurological and weight problems. Nicola stated the corporate was nonetheless trying to transfer these ahead, together with making ready an investigational new drug submitting.