XtalPi Invests in New PhoreMost Target Discovery Biotechnology in Oversubscribed Series B Funding
Margarita M. Phillips
4 min read
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., March 23, 2021 / PRNewswire / – XtalPi, an artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery and development company, is pleased to announce its investment in the Series B funding of PhoreMost, a UK-based biopharmaceutical company that devotes to “Drugging the Undruggable®” disease targets. The investment round totaled $ 46 million and was led by BGF, with the participation of XtalPi and a panel of new and existing investors. Director of Strategy (CSO) of XtalPi Dr. Alain jiang will join the board of directors of PhoreMost.
The new round of funding will support the advancement of PhoreMost’s portfolio of internal pipelines and collaborative programs in therapeutic indications in oncology and aging, including an “Allosteric PLK1” collaboration for the treatment of brain cancer that is expected to come into effect. clinical trial in 2022. In addition, PhoreMost is developing new therapeutic modalities in the degradation space of targeted proteins on its SITESEEKER® phenotypic screening platform.
The two companies have an ongoing collaboration for AI drug discovery that began in 2020, where XtalPi leverages its intelligent digital drug discovery and development (ID4) platform to generate ultra-large chemical spaces and discover high-quality lead compounds against “immediate” oncology targets. identified by PhoreMost. Building on existing relationships, XtalPi’s investment will allow the two companies to deepen their partnership and explore the full potential of the combined strength of their platforms to systematically and rapidly pursue new targets in more therapeutic areas. .
PhoreMost’s SITESEEKER® platform can be used in any pathological context to detect target interaction sites of therapeutic interest. It is particularly effective against targets generally considered “undrugable” due to the absence of well-defined attachment pockets on their surface. PhoreMost’s unique ability to discover and validate novel drug targets is highly complementary to XtalPi’s ID4 platform, which has been shown to be effective in discovering and designing drug molecules and advancing them rapidly into preclinical development. By combining strengths with PhoreMost, XtalPi can further leverage the scalability of its cloud-based platform and create a closed-loop AI R&D workflow to convert new targets into early pipeline assets.
In recent months, XtalPi has announced a series of AI drug discovery collaborations in oncology, with pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Huadong Medicine, 3D Medicines, Singleron and Signet Therapeutics, some of the projects preparing to enter clinical research. XtalPi’s ID4 platform is used in the discovery and development of more than 100 pipeline molecules across a wide range of therapeutic areas. Existing collaborations show that for difficult targets, ID4 can identify molecules with activity at a much faster rate than traditional methods, dramatically accelerate their progression to the clinical stage and support large-scale drug discovery programs.
“We have seen a distinct benefit and great promise in our collaboration with PhoreMost,” said Dr. Shuhao Wen, President of XtalPi, “and we believe that a closer partnership between the two platform companies will bring us an explosive expansion of pipeline assets. By working with PhoreMost, we look forward to discovering large-scale drug discovery opportunities inaccessible to traditional research methods, building a broad bridge between new and exciting targets and clinical research, and continuing to grow our collaboration with companies. global pharmaceuticals. “
Dr. Alain jiang, CSO at XtalPi, said: “XtalPi has always attached great importance to technological innovations that can improve key stages of biopharmaceutical research and deliver unique value in our ecosystem as we seek to build a platform with capabilities As a collaborator of PhoreMost and now an investor, we are delighted to support them in their mission to “drug the uncontrollable” and look forward to working more closely with this incredible team to expand our pipeline, in especially for diseases that have little or no treatment options, and make impactful changes in the lives of patients around the world. “
About XtalPi Inc.
XtalPi is a pharmaceutical technology company that is reinventing the industry’s approach to drug research and development with its Intelligent Digital Drug Discovery and Development (ID4) platform. With tightly interwoven high-performance quantum physics, artificial intelligence and cloud computing algorithms, XtalPi’s ID4 platform provides accurate predictions on the physicochemical and pharmaceutical properties of small molecule candidates for drug design, drug selection. solid forms and other critical aspects of drug development. . XtalPi is dedicated to improving the efficiency, accuracy and success rate of drug research and development, and to contributing to a healthier society around the world.
Founded in 2014 by a group of quantum physicists at MIT, XtalPi has since built an elite team with multidisciplinary expertise in physics, chemistry, pharmaceutical R&D and algorithm design. Advanced technologies, innovative solutions and diverse applications of XtalPi across the pharmaceutical value chain have helped it gain industry approval and establish strategic partnerships with leading international pharmaceutical companies.
www.xtalpi.com
About PhoreMost Ltd
PhoreMost has developed a new generation phenotypic screening platform called SITESEEKER® who can discern the best new targets for future therapy and, more importantly, how to drug them, which has the potential to dramatically increase the diversity and affordability of new therapies for cancer and other untreated diseases. Based on the company’s proprietary core technology “Protein Interference”, SITESEEKER® Systematically unmasks cryptic drug sites throughout the human genome and links them directly to useful therapeutic functions in the context of living cells. Using this platform, PhoreMost is building a pipeline of new drug discovery programs aimed at tackling a range of untreated diseases.
www.phoremost.com
Contact:
Ruyu wang
[email protected]
SOURCE XtalPi Inc.
