PHARMACY MARKET
Business Wire | October 17, 2023
BioMap announced a groundbreaking strategic collaboration with Sanofi to co-develop cutting-edge AI modules for biotherapeutic drug discovery leveraging BioMap’s AI platform.
“As the largest foundational model-based approach within life sciences, we are thrilled to collaborate with Sanofi and leverage the potential of BioMap’s cutting-edge AI engine to help solve complex problems associated with new protein therapies to drive drug discovery,” said BioMap’s Chief Technology Officer, Le Song. “We have built what is essentially a biological map of proteins using data sets from public and private sources to inform our foundational models. Utilizing automation and integrated workflows to enhance the collection of high-quality data, we can catalyze the process of new hit discovery and lead optimization.”
Traditional AI methods require vast amounts of labeled data to make accurate predictions. However, in life science, labeled data are often in short supply. BioMap’s foundational models are revolutionizing AI in biology by enabling one large model, trained on ubiquitous unlabeled data, to inform multiple downstream task models. This approach enables superior prediction from limited data in a range of therapeutic areas, including immunology, neurology, oncology, and rare diseases.
Leveraging BioMap’s custom-built foundational models and world-leading AI expertise, as well as Sanofi’s proprietary data, computational innovations in protein engineering, and deep biologics development experience, both parties aim to create advanced AI models and protein Large Language Models that will enable biologics design and multiparametric optimization.
"By combining Sanofi’s proprietary data sets, digital infrastructure, AI and data science capabilities, and drug development expertise with BioMap’s protein Large Language Models, high-performance computing, and deep understanding of AI, we can optimize the process of discovery and development of breakthrough biotherapeutics,” said Matt Truppo, Global Head of Research Platforms at Sanofi. “Our collaboration with BioMap further underscores Sanofi’s commitment to becoming the first pharma company powered by artificial intelligence at scale.”
Under the terms of the agreement, BioMap will receive an upfront cash payment and near-term payments for reaching module development milestones from Sanofi. BioMap will be eligible to receive payments of over $1 billion based on achievement of pre-clinical development, clinical development, regulatory, and commercial milestones.
About BioMap
Founded in 2020 by Robin Li and Wei Liu, BioMap is a disruptive life science AI company responsible for building xTrimo, the first and largest protein-centric large language model platform. Their technology allows scientists to model life more accurately, from proteins to a system level, and extract novel insights and predictions from limited data. Supported by an international, cross-functional team of over 300 experts, BioMap is solving critical, protein-related drug development problems and charting a course to radically improve patients’ lives.
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PHARMACY MARKET
Business Wire | September 28, 2023
Cytel Inc., provider of quantitative insights and health data analytics to leaders in the life sciences, has acquired the Berlin-based company co.faktor GmbH with its dedicated healthcare consultancy services co.value® (market access), co.medical® (medical communications), and co.patient® (patient relations) concentrations. As a result, Cytel’s services for biopharma commercialization will gain new and complementary specialist consultancy capabilities and localized expertise for successful market access in Germany, a first wave launch country. The acquisition marks another milestone in Cytel’s strategic growth in Europe, and follows the recent acquisition of stève consultants, specialists in market access, real-world evidence (RWE), and health economics and outcomes research (HEOR) in France. Cytel now boasts a 200-person-strong access consultancy team, making it one of the only providers that offers the full fleet of advisory services, from clinical trial and real-world data and evidence analytics to global market access and local in-country Health Technology Assessment (HTA) support.
Cytel is now primed to provide global drug sponsors and their affiliate teams with advanced analytical support across the lifecycle through commercialization. Achieving favorable market access in today’s global healthcare industry is challenging and requires deep knowledge of EU national regulations. Cytel has long excelled at using proven quantitative techniques to help pharmaceutical manufacturers successfully enter new markets. To continue supporting global and local clients on their road to commercial success, Cytel has invested heavily in specialized, national capabilities in key launch markets with the recent acquisitions of stève consultants in June 2023 and SDS Life Sciences in 2022. Cytel’s most recent acquisition of the co.faktor businesses continues this investment, augmenting and extending localized regulatory support through product launch and commercialization.
“The co.faktor team is recognized as a highly specialized biopharma services provider, with a broad spectrum of services including HTA, pricing, medical communication, patient relations, and strategic consultancy in Germany. It’s no surprise they’ve shaped the field there,” said Radek Wasiak, General Manager, Real-World & Advanced Analytics at Cytel. “We look forward to welcoming them to Cytel, where they will now be supported by the full depth and breadth of our unparalleled biometrics, RWE, HEOR, and market access advisory talent.”
“Cytel and co.faktor have clear synergies, particularly when it comes to Cytel’s data know-how and co.faktor’s understanding of Germany’s uniquely complex market access and HTA requirements,” said Dr. Marc Esser, CEO, co.faktor. “By combining our deep expertise in the German HTA process with Cytel’s unique capabilities, we will be able to help our clients survive the upcoming European Health Technology Assessment (EU-HTA), a key challenge for all stakeholders in the European pharma market.”
About Cytel
Cytel is the largest provider of statistical software and advanced analytics for clinical trial design and execution. For over thirty-five years, Cytel’s scientific rigor and operational excellence have enabled biotech and pharmaceutical companies to navigate uncertainty, prove value and make confident, evidence-based decisions. Its experts deliver industry-leading software, data-driven analytics, real-world evidence, and strategic consulting. Headquartered in Waltham, Massachusetts, Cytel has more than 1,900 resources across North America, Europe, and Asia.
About co.faktor
For more than ten years, Berlin-based co.faktor GmbH has been providing specialized consulting services with its dedicated healthcare consultancy services co.value® (market access), co.medical® (medical communications), and co.patient® (patient relations) concentrations. By synergistically combining the expertise in these areas, co.faktor offers efficient launch support with consistent messaging to all relevant stakeholders.
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PHARMACY MARKET
Business Wire | October 10, 2023
Iambic Therapeutics a biotechnology company developing novel therapeutics from its unique generative AI discovery platform, today announced the closing of an oversubscribed $100 million Series B financing co-led by Ascenta Capital and Abingworth, and also including new investors NVIDIA, Illumina Ventures, Gradiant Corporation, and independent board member Bill Rastetter. Existing investors also participated, including Nexus Ventures, Catalio Capital Management, Coatue, FreeFlow, OrbiMed, and Sequoia Capital. As part of the Series B, Iambic is delighted to welcome two new board members, Evan Rachlin, M.D., from Ascenta Capital and Kurt von Emster from Abingworth.
“At Iambic, our world-class team has combined physics and AI to create a differentiated drug discovery platform that achieves a step-change in the speed and success rate for delivering best-in-class and first-in-class development candidates to clinic,” commented Tom Miller, Ph.D., Co-founder and Chief Executive Officer of Iambic. “With the Series B funding, we intend to advance multiple AI-discovered candidates into the clinic and expand our pipeline, demonstrating how the Iambic platform can deliver better therapeutics to patients in less time, with optimized target product profiles for greater likelihood of clinical success.”
“We were struck by the originality of these molecules, offering distinctive approaches in both deeply validated and more novel biological pathways,” added Evan Rachlin, M.D., Co-founder and Managing Partner of Ascenta Capital. “Iambic’s platform enables a more creative and expansive exploration of how to treat diseases with profound unmet needs. We are delighted to partner with Tom and his extraordinary team in translating these thoroughly tested medicines into humans.”
“Abingworth is proud to support the remarkably talented team at Iambic in its drive to revolutionize drug discovery and speed to the market with highly selective drugs,” said Kurt von Emster, Managing Partner and Head of Life Sciences at Abingworth.
“AI-driven technologies, including methods that Iambic and NVIDIA researchers have built together, are charting a new path for researchers in the discovery of new therapeutic candidates,” said Rory Kelleher, Director of Healthcare and Life Sciences at NVIDIA. “NVIDIA-accelerated computing and software are helping industry pioneers like Iambic drive scientific breakthroughs and our continued collaboration aims to speed innovation in drug discovery.”
“We believe technology innovations powered by advanced computing and omics-derived data insights will transform drug discovery and pave the way for the next wave of groundbreaking medicines,” said Ron Mazumder, Ph.D., MBA, Partner of Illumina Ventures. “Iambic’s physics-informed machine learning approach has yielded promising lead candidates with superior profiles in record time.”
Since its 2021 Series A financing, Iambic has rapidly built its AI-driven discovery platform, which unifies state-of-the-art, physics-informed machine learning and experimental automation, and has demonstrated the platform’s success in identifying therapeutic candidates with differentiated drug profiles. In addition to building out a deep bench of AI and drug-discovery experts, Iambic has discovered two candidates to advance into the clinic: IAM-H1, a highly selective and brain-penetrant inhibitor of HER2 and its oncogenic mutants, and IAM-C1, a potential first-in-class selective dual CDK2/4 inhibitor to address unmet needs in terms of therapeutic window and treatment resistance in cell-cycle-driven cancers. Further, Iambic has extended its leadership position in the AI community, creating methods such as NeuralPLexer and OrbNet to drive its discovery platform.
With the funds raised in the Series B, Iambic intends to advance multiple candidates into clinical development, expand its pipeline with additional candidates with best-in-class and first-in-class potential, and continue to innovate and build next-generation AI and automation technologies for drug discovery. It plans to leverage NVIDIA technology such as the NVIDIA DGX Cloud AI supercomputing platform and the NVIDIA BioNeMo cloud service to accelerate discovery.
The company retains the technology created under its prior name of Entos Inc., adopting the new name of Iambic Therapeutics to reflect its transition to a company with the additional capability of clinical development of candidates identified through its AI-driven discovery platform.
About the Iambic Therapeutics Physics-Informed AI-Driven Discovery Platform
The Iambic Therapeutics AI-driven platform was created to address the most challenging design problems in drug discovery, incorporating the most current AI technologies and purpose-built tools from Iambic. The integration of physics principles into the platform’s AI architectures improves data efficiency and allows molecular models to venture widely across the space of possible chemical structures. The platform’s algorithms enable identification of new chemical mechanisms for engaging difficult-to-address biological targets, discovery of defined product profiles that optimize therapeutic window, and exploration of the chemical space to discover candidates for development with highly differentiated properties. Through close integration of AI-generated molecular designs with automated experimental execution, Iambic completes design-make-test cycles on a weekly cadence.
About Iambic Therapeutics
Founded in 2019 and headquartered in La Jolla, California, Iambic Therapeutics is disrupting the therapeutics landscape with its unique AI-driven drug-discovery platform. Iambic has assembled a world-class team that unites pioneering AI experts and experienced drug hunters with strong track records of success in delivering clinically validated therapeutics. The Iambic platform has been demonstrated to deliver high-quality, differentiated therapeutics to clinic with unprecedented speed and across multiple target classes and mechanisms of action. The Iambic team is advancing an internal pipeline of clinical assets to address urgent unmet patient needs.
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