Tag: poolbeg

Poolbeg Pharma – Successful Artificial Intelligence led programme identifies multiple influenza drug targets

Poolbeg Pharma (AIM: POLB, OTCQB: POLBF, ‘Poolbeg’ or the ‘Company’), a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company focusing on infectious and other prevalent diseases with a high unmet medical need, announces a significant breakthrough in its world first influenza Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) Programme with CytoReason. Poolbeg has been working with CytoReason since March 2022.

Poolbeg’s unique disease progression data from influenza human challenge trials combined with CytoReason’s broad repositories of curated disease data were analysed using CytoReason’s industry-leading AI-led platform. The analysis has led to the discovery of multiple novel drug targets for the treatment of influenza.

Identification of drug targets from this unique data-set has previously been successful as p38 MAP Kinase, inhibited by POLB 001, was identified as a driver of severe influenza but this required manual analysis that took several years. However, through the utilisation of CytoReason’s cutting-edge AI technology, Poolbeg has now identified multiple novel drug targets in just 15 months. Moreover, CytoReason’s analysis independently confirmed the significance of the p38 MAP kinase pathway in influenza, providing further validation for Poolbeg’s POLB 001 programme.

The Company is actively exploring the most effective way to further develop the novel drug targets in order to generate value and looks forward to updating shareholders about the progress of this programme in due course. This marks Poolbeg’s second successful AI Programme, following the identification of potential new drug candidates for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) announced in December 2022.

Jeremy Skillington, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of Poolbeg Pharma, commented: “Our collaboration with CytoReason has put Poolbeg at the forefront of AI drug discovery. CytoReason’s deep interrogation of the uniquely rich data derived from human challenge trials has deepened our knowledge of influenza, resulting in the identification of multiple novel influenza drug targets. There is a significant unmet need for new and better treatments for vulnerable patients with influenza and this is a major milestone in the delivery of new therapies that can improve patient outcomes and global health.”

David Harel, Chief Executive Officer of CytoReason, said:

“Once again, we’re pleased to see that leveraging CytoReason’s computational disease models to extract insights from Poolbeg’s unique human challenge data can optimise the target discovery process. More importantly, these impressive results would not be possible without the commitment, transparency, and reciprocity of both teams.”

Poolbeg Pharma makes significant breakthrough in AI programme through discovery of novel drug targets for treatment of RSV

Poolbeg Pharma (AIM: POLB, OTCQB: POLBF, ‘Poolbeg’ or the ‘Company’), a clinical stage infectious disease pharmaceutical company with a unique capital light clinical model, announces that it has made a significant breakthrough in its Artificial Intelligence (‘AI’) Programme with partner OneThree Biotech, Inc. through the discovery of novel drug targets for the treatment of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (‘RSV’).

 Following the completion of the build and optimisation of a tailored AI model in June 2022, the OneThree team, using its clinically validated AI platform, have identified novel drug targets using Poolbeg’s unique RSV human challenge trial data. The identification of these novel drug targets now allows the final stage of the programme to commence which will involve the identification of small molecule inhibitors to effectively treat RSV infections. The team are particularly excited as these include a range of targets for which there are known drugs with existing Phase I safety and tolerability data. Prioritisation of compounds with existing Phase I data aligns with Poolbeg’s capital light model as these compounds will have extensive nonclinical and clinical data allowing smooth transition to early human efficacy trials.

The final stage of the research plan will utilise OneThree’s proprietary ATLANTIS AI platform to identify the drugs that are most likely to be efficacious against the identified disease targets with clean safety profiles in RSV patients. Selection of drugs is traditionally a long and extensive process, however, by using an existing AI model this process can be completed in weeks. Results of this stage are expected before year end 2022.

Traditional drug design is focused on identifying a molecule that can bind with a specific target within a cell. Poolbeg’s approach, utilising OneThree Biotech’s advanced AI models, allows for the complex disease signature underlying each drug target to be considered during drug selection. This allows the complex outputs of this stage, which represent novel biological insights, to be advanced to the final stage which will match drugs to prioritised targets. By working from disease signatures like this, OneThree Biotech can utilise the full strength of its AI technology to pinpoint the drug molecules that can precisely and effectively reverse disease signatures and produce meaningful clinical benefits.

Jeremy Skillington, PhD, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma, said:

“This is the first time that AI has been used to identify disease targets in RSV and I am delighted to have reached this significant milestone in the programme in such a short period of time. Having identified these novel disease targets, we can now commence the final stage of the programme to identify effective drug candidates to treat RSV. In keeping with our capital-light model, this AI enabled in silico R&D approach has significantly accelerated the discovery process by having the right partners and the right expertise to unleash the potential of our unique human challenge trial data. We greatly look forward to seeing the outputs of this programme later this year.”

Neel S. Madhukar, PhD, CEO of OneThree Biotech said:

“This analysis is pioneering in RSV research, and we are pleased to have identified disease targets from which effective drug candidates can be explored. We are fortunate to have access to Poolbeg’s unique human challenge trial data because it was collected in a controlled and powered quarantine which increases the overall strength and predictive power you can get from it. Additionally, thanks to the combination of Poolbeg’s data and our ATLANTIS platform, we were able to reach this point in our project in only eight months – significantly faster than a traditional drug discovery project – and we’re excited to make meaningful progress in the treatment of infectious diseases, such as RSV.”

Poolbeg Pharma signs Artificial Intelligence deal with CytoReason to identify drug targets for influenza

Poolbeg Pharma (AIM: POLB, ‘Poolbeg’ or the ‘Company’), a clinical stage infectious disease pharmaceutical company with a unique capital light clinical model, has signed a deal with CytoReason, a leading artificial intelligence (AI) company developing computational disease models for efficient drug discovery and development, to provide AI analysis of Poolbeg’s influenza disease progression data derived from human challenge study samples.

The partnership will harness the insights of Poolbeg’s unique repository of influenza human challenge trial* data and is another significant milestone in its strategy to leverage its proprietary databank to identify new pharmaceutical assets using artificial intelligence. CytoReason has built world-class validated AI models which can extrapolate immune cell behaviour based on bulk transcriptomics, making it an ideal partner to maximise the insights of Poolbeg’s influenza data. To date, five of the world’s top ten pharma companies use CytoReason’s technology including Pfizer, Sanofi, Merck KGaA and Roche. Poolbeg’s ability to execute a deal of this nature with a company of CytoReason’s stature is a testament to the quality of Poolbeg’s proprietary databank which will significantly improve the outputs of the collaboration.

 The partnership will bring Poolbeg’s unique repository of clinical samples and associated data from influenza human challenge trials together with CytoReason’s leading and validated AI technology. This will enable a deep understanding of the mechanism of influenza infection and recovery and, as a result, help identify novel drug targets for the disease. Poolbeg’s datasets for influenza are already tailored for incorporation into CytoReason’s platform algorithms. Both CytoReason and the Company are excited about the unique and novel disease-relevant insights, which have the potential to transform how influenza is currently treated. The project is due to commence immediately with a full work programme already agreed, and first results expected in H1 2023.

 CytoReason’s machine learning algorithm works by combing through enormous repositories of clinical data to build models of human disease, which can then be used by biotech and pharmaceutical partners to identify novel targets, prioritise mono/combination therapies, find biomarkers, and understand which patients will benefit most from those new treatments. CytoReason will build a tailored AI model using its existing clinical data in conjunction with Poolbeg’s human challenge data to maximise the insights generated. As a result, CytoReason will be able to prioritise new drug targets quickly and cost effectively, in a manner consistent with Poolbeg’s business model. Based on the target identification insights generated from the analysis, the Company plans to source drugs with existing Phase I safety data that can immediately continue clinical development to rapidly generate early human proof of concept data for influenza, with the ultimate aim of monetising the asset through partnerships and licensing deals with pharma and biotech.

 

This is the first time that AI analysis has been undertaken on influenza human challenge disease progression data and samples. Data from human challenge studies are unique in that they track a healthy subject through disease to recovery in carefully controlled and monitored isolation units, collecting samples throughout the course of disease, and vitally collecting matched baseline and follow-up samples before and after infection. CytoReason will be analysing blood transcriptomics, proteomics, DNA sequences and viral loads and disease signs and symptoms from the human challenge studies.

This deal comes at a time when the threat of influenza is significant. Cases are at their highest globally since the COVID-19 pandemic began where pre-pandemic one in eight people were affected, resulting in five to ten million hospitalisations and 500,000 deaths each year. Poolbeg’s asset, POLB 001, which is progressing towards its first human challenge trial in June 2022, was identified using the unique disease progression data available from human challenge trials. By utilising AI, the Company will identify more targets, quicker and more cost effectively than previously possible without this technology.

This is Poolbeg’s latest AI deal following the partnership with OneThree Biotech, Inc. announced in February 2021 to identify new drug targets and treatments for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (‘RSV’).

 

Jeremy Skillington, PhD, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma, said:

“This exciting deal is all about creating opportunities. Opportunities to unlock the potential of our unique bank of human challenge data. Opportunities to develop drugs for infectious disease more quickly and cost effectively. And opportunities to tackle the growing global threat of influenza.

“This is the first time AI analysis will be undertaken on influenza human challenge trial data and we look forward to the results early next year. We are delighted to be working with such an industry leading partner as CytoReason and using cutting-edge AI technology as we continue to develop and progress our innovative infectious disease drug pipeline.”

 David Harel, CytoReason’s CEO, said:

“We are excited about the potential of Poolbeg’s data and are delighted to be the first AI company to analyse Influenza human challenge data. Our top-tier scientists, along with our platform of computational disease models, will enable Poolbeg to significantly shorten the drug discovery time for Influenza treatments, dramatically reduce the costs involved, and ultimately help more patients.”