Insilico Medicine Initiates First-in-Human Study of ISM001-055, a Novel Drug Discovered Using Insilico's Proprietary End-to-end Artificial Intelligence Platform

NEW YORK and HONG KONG, Nov. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, today announced that the first healthy volunteer has been dosed in a first-in-human microdose trial of ISM001-055.

ISM001-055 is a potentially first-in-class small molecule inhibitor of a novel biological target discovered by Pharma.AI, Insilico Medicine's end-to-end AI-powered drug discovery platform. It is being developed for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic lung disease which results in progressive and irreversible decline in lung function. After completing IND-enabling studies, Insilico Medicine has initiated the microdose trial to begin characterizing the pharmacokinetic profile in humans. The trial, administering ISM001-055 intravenously in healthy volunteers, is being conducted in Australia.


ISM001-055 demonstrated highly promising results in multiple preclinical studies including in vitro biological studies, pharmacokinetic and safety studies. The compound significantly improved myofibroblast activation which contributes to the development of fibrosis. ISM001-055's novel target is potentially relevant to a broad range of fibrotic indications.

"We are very pleased to see Insilico Medicine's first antifibrotic drug candidate entering into the clinic. We believe this is a significant milestone in the history of AI-powered drug discovery because to our knowledge the drug candidate is the first ever AI-discovered novel molecule based on an AI-discovered novel target. We have leveraged our end-to-end AI-powered drug discovery platform, including the usage of generative biology and generative chemistry, to discover novel biological targets and generate novel molecules with drug-like properties. ISM001-055 is the first such compound to enter the clinic, and we expect more to come in the near future," said Feng Ren, Ph.D., CSO of Insilico Medicine.

Previously, Insilico Medicine demonstrated its ability to generate drug-like hit molecules using AI with the publication of the Generative Tensorial Reinforcement Learning (GENTRL) system for a well-known target in record time. It also demonstrated the target's proof of concept by applying deep learning techniques for the identification of novel biological targets. This novel antifibrotic program combined these target discovery and generative chemistry capabilities. Notably, Insilico Medicine completed the entire discovery process from target discovery to preclinical candidate nomination within 18 months on a budget of $2.6 million.

"Insilico Medicine has achieved this breakthrough milestone which is extremely impressive. Many drugs were discovered accidentally when scientists designed a drug for disease A and then they found out that it actually works for some different disease B. AI is a way to search for information and look for signals for drug discovery. This achievement didn't happen by chance and is a reproducible method and procedure which is revolutionary," said Michael Levitt, 2013 Nobel Laureate in Chemistry and member of Insilico Medicine's Scientific Advisory Board.

"What impresses me the most about this achievement is not only the lower cost or faster speed of development but, also it demonstrated the Pharma AI platform can overcome the low probability of getting to this stage," said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine. "There are very few examples of a pharmaceutical company discovering a new target for a broad range of diseases, designing a novel molecule, and initiating human clinical trials. To my knowledge, nobody has achieved this with AI to-date. The failure rates in preclinical target discovery are very high and even after the targets are validated in animal models, over half of Phase 2 clinical trials fail primarily due to the choice of target. Target discovery is the fundamental grand challenge of the pharmaceutical industry. With ISM001-055 we used end-to-end AI connecting biology, chemistry in order to assess activity and safety in multiple preclinical models."

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, is connecting biology, chemistry, and clinical trials analysis using next-generation AI systems. The company has developed AI platforms that utilize deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques to discover novel targets and to design novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is delivering breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, immunity, central nervous system (CNS) diseases and aging-related diseases. For more information, visit www.insilico.com.

Media Contact
For further information, images, or interviews, please contact pr@insilico.com

Insilico Medicine Appoints Business Leader, Michelle Chen, as Chief Business Officer

HONG KONG and NEW YORK, Oct. 19, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end AI-powered drug discovery company, today announced the appointment of Dr. Michelle Chen to the company's position of Chief Business Officer. In this role, Dr. Chen will oversee the company's corporate strategies and business development activities.

Dr. Chen brings more than 20 years of extensive experience in both biopharma and technology industries. Prior to Insilico Medicine, she was the Senior Vice President of Corporate Development and Discovery Business Development for WuXi Biologics where she led multiple M&A and licensing transactions, drove strategic partnerships and joint ventures with external biopharma partners, set up a new company in Europe and fostered investor relations in the United States and Europe. As a biotech executive, Dr. Chen has worked at top pharmaceutical companies such as Roche, Merck and BioMarin, as well as biotech and technology companies in roles ranging from business and corporate development, product marketing, and R&D with a strong track record of success. She has a Ph.D. in Biochemistry from the University of Washington, did postdoctoral work at the University of California San Francisco, and received Bioinformatics training at Stanford University.


"I am very excited about joining Insilico Medicine, a company that is at the forefront of applying cutting-edge artificial intelligence and machine learning algorithms to the entire drug discovery and development process. By partnering with other biopharma companies, contract research organizations, academics, foundations and AI experts, Insilico Medicine is well-positioned to transform drug discovery processes, cut down development time, increase clinical trials success, and tackle the fundamental challenges in our industry," stated Dr. Chen.

"We welcome Dr. Michelle Chen on board as our Chief Business Officer. Her combined experience and track record in business & corporate development, drug discovery & development, and product commercialization in the industry will help to broaden our collaboration partnership network and develop medicines to address high unmet medical needs," said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery company, is developing artificial intelligence platforms that use deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and aging-related diseases.

Website: http://insilico.com/

Media Contact
For further information, images, or interviews, please contact pr@insilico

SOURCE Insilico Medicine
Related Links

insilicomedicine.com

Insilico Medicine Appoints Nirav Jhaveri as Chief Financial Officer

 NEW YORK and HONG KONG, Sept. 23, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI)-powered drug discovery company, today announced the appointment of Nirav Jhaveri as Chief Financial Officer (CFO) to oversee capital markets, investor relations, financial operations, and corporate development.

"It is an honor to join a pioneering company at the forefront of innovation in drug discovery. Insilico is leveraging its AI platform to accelerate the research and development process across multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology, immunology, inflammation and infectious diseases," said Mr. Jhaveri. "Building on the momentum of the Company's recent Series C financing with $255 million raised from leading, global institutional investors, I look forward to supporting Insilico's goal of developing novel therapies to treat serious and life-threatening disorders."


In August, Insilico nominated a second preclinical candidate for kidney fibrosis following the nomination of its idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis candidate in February 2021. In September, the Company hired Dr. Robert Spiegel, the former Chief Medical Officer (CMO) of Schering Plough, as CMO to oversee clinical translation of these and other exciting preclinical pipeline assets.

Mr. Jhaveri brings two decades of capital markets, business development and biopharma experience. Before joining Insilico, he served as Chief Financial Officer of Journey Medical Corporation, a commercial-stage biopharmaceutical company, where he was responsible for business development, corporate strategy and capital raising. Prior to Journey Medical, Mr. Jhaveri was Vice President, Business Development, at Fortress Biotech. Earlier in his career, he held roles in equity research at Citigroup and investment banking at Bank of America. He earned his B.A. in Chemistry and Economics from the University of Pennsylvania and his MBA from New York University's Stern School of Business. Mr. Jhaveri is a CFA charterholder.

"Nirav brings substantial capital markets and business development experience that will complement the firm's strategic objectives. Our goal is to exploit our technology to develop novel, clinical-stage assets in- house as well as in collaboration with biopharmaceutical partners, which will further validate Insilico's leading AI capabilities in drug discovery," said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery company, is developing artificial intelligence platforms. These platforms use deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and ageing-related diseases. Website http://insilico.com/

Media Contact

For further information, images, or interviews, please contact pr@insilico.com

https://insilico.com/

PAQ Therapeutics Announces Collaboration with Insilico Medicine to Develop Novel Therapies through Autophagy-Dependent Degradation

 

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Sept. 9, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- PAQ Therapeutics ("PAQ"), a biotechnology company harnessing the power of autophagy to restore health and cure disease, and Insilico Medicine ("Insilico"), an end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, today announced that the companies have entered into a collaboration agreement to develop small molecule therapies designed to hijack the autophagy pathway to address novel disease targets.

Under the terms of the agreement, both parties will leverage Insilico's small molecule compound generation platform Chemistry42 and other AI-powered drug discovery technologies in combination with PAQ's autophagosome-tethering compound (ATTEC) technology platform to discover novel small molecules with the potential to catalyze and selectively enhance the degradation of disease-causing entities through autophagy.

"As part of PAQ's ongoing efforts to therapeutically harness autophagy-dependent degradation, one key next step is to integrate cutting-edge technologies like AI that support our overall hit-finding and drug discovery strategy," said Nan Ji, Ph.D., Co-founder, President and CEO, PAQ Therapeutics. "We are excited to leverage Insilico's deep expertise and proven track record in AI-driven drug discovery during a pivotal time in our company's growth and progress."

Autophagy is the natural cellular degradation mechanism that removes unnecessary or dysfunctional components through a lysosome-dependent mechanism. With its powerful ATTEC technology platform, PAQ expands the therapeutic potential of autophagy to target not only disease-causing proteins, but also lipids, pathogens, and other substrates with the goal of restoring health. Insilico's AI-powered drug discovery platforms utilize deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques to speed the generation of new molecular structures with specific properties, improving the efficiency and success of drug discovery.

"PAQ's autophagy-dependent approach supports a pivotal moment in the evolution of drug discovery and design by expanding the ability to target the disease-causing substrates underlying diseases with limited or no treatment options," said Feng Ren, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Drug R&D at Insilico. "Insilico is pleased to partner with PAQ Therapeutics to leverage our AI-driven drug discovery platforms in advancing drug R&D of ATTECs to address unmet medical needs."

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery company, is developing artificial intelligence platforms. These platforms use deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and age-related diseases. For more information, visit www.insilico.com.

About PAQ Therapeutics

PAQ Therapeutics is a biotechnology company pioneering a new approach to restoring heath and curing disease through autophagy, the body's most versatile mechanism for natural cellular degradation. With our ATTEC (autophagosome-tethering compound) technology, we are developing a novel class of small molecule degraders capable of binding a diverse array of substrates to the autophagy pathway. PAQ's research advances are driving an important new class of degradation therapies with the potential to fundamentally transform drug discovery and development and target a range of substrates including proteins, aggregates, lipids, organelles, and pathogens. For more information, visit www.paqtx.com.

SOURCE Insilico Medicine
Related Links

https://insilico.com/

Huadong Medicine and Insilico Medicine enter co-development partnership to advance oncology drug discovery by hitting undruggable targets

 SHANGHAI, Sept. 8, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Huadong Medicine (SZ.000963) and Insilico Medicine ("Insilico"), an end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, announced today that the companies have entered into a co-development partnership to accelerate the discovery of breakthrough small-molecule therapeutics by leveraging an innovative approach to oncology.

Pursuant to the collaboration agreement, Insilico and Huadong Medicine will launch a new drug discovery project involving the research and development (R&D) teams of both parties. The collaboration will leverage Huadong Medicine's advanced innovative drug discovery and screening characterization platform, in combination with Insilico's end-to-end AI-driven drug discovery platform, particularly the small molecule generation platform Chemistry42, in order to design and screen out potential first-in-class ("FIC") drug molecules with superior activity that may increase the druggability of targets. The project team will interfere with protein-protein interactions to hit undruggable targets that regulate tumor growth.

Insilico's self-developed small molecule generation platform Chemistry42 combines AI technology with computational and medicinal chemistry methods to efficiently generate novel molecular structures with desired properties for specific targets. This platform helps to screen and obtain potential therapeutic molecules, which are verified in vitro and in vivo, and delivers rapid comprehensive solutions from hits to preclinical candidates ("PCC").

Huadong Medicine, a publicly-traded pharmaceutical company with fully integrated R&D, manufacturing, distribution, sales and marketing capabilities, has more than 10,000 employees and a sales force covering thousands of hospitals in China. In addition, Huadong Medicine's R&D organization currently has more than 1000 FTEs involved in drug discovery, preclinical research, clinical research, CMC, and RA. Huadong Medicine focuses on innovation and transformation strategies and is committed to concentrating its advantages and R&D resources to build prospective products R&D pipeline in the fields of oncology, endocrine/metabolic, and autoimmune disease with the help of advanced technology and methods from its partners.

"Complementary advantages and cooperative innovation have increasingly become the trends of novel drug discovery and development. Insilico is honored to form a partnership with Huadong Medicine. By leveraging the strength of Insilico's advanced small molecule generation platform Chemistry42 and Huadong Medicine's powerful target verification and screening platform, we will hit previously undruggable targets by inhibiting protein-protein interactions, in order to meet unmet medicinal needs efficiently," said Feng Ren, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Drug R&D at Insilico.

"The combination of AI and novel drug R&D can greatly improve the efficiency of drug R&D, and has the potential to significantly shorten timelines and reduce the cost of drug design, discovery, pre-clinical R&D, and clinical development. We look forward to collaborating with the leading international AI company Insilico, by leveraging respective advantages of both companies, in advancing the development of potential FIC drug molecules to meet increasing clinical medical needs, in addition to providing patients with more, better and ground-breaking treatment options," said Dongzhou Liu, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and President of Global Research and Development at Huadong Medicine.

About Insilico Medicine
Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery company, is developing artificial intelligence platforms. These platforms use deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and aging-related diseases. For more information, please visit www.insilico.com.

About Huadong Medicine
Huadong Medicine Co., Ltd. (SZ.000963) is a leading Chinese pharmaceutical company based in Hangzhou, China. Founded in 1993, Huadong Medicine has fully integrated R&D, manufacturing, distribution, sales and marketing capabilities. Huadong Medicine's product portfolio and pipeline are specialized in oncology, immunology, nephrology, and diabetes. The Company's annual revenue in 2020 exceeded 5 billion USD. Huadong Medicine has more than 10,000 employees, and one of the most extensive commercial coverage and marketing capabilities in China. 'Patient Centered, Science Driven' is Huadong's value. For more information, please visit www.eastchinapharm.com/en.

SOURCE Insilico Medicine

Related Links

http://www.insilico.com

Insilico Medicine and University of Cambridge Announce a Collaboration on Target Identification for Human Diseases Linked to Protein Liquid-liquid Phase Separation

 

HONG KONG, Sept. 7, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI) -driven drug discovery company, specialized in target discovery, small molecule chemistry, and clinical development, announced a collaboration with the University of Cambridge.

The agreement outlines a constructive framework whereby Insilico licenses PandaOmics, an AI-driven target discovery tool, to the University of Cambridge and fully sponsors a post-graduate studentship for target identification for human diseases linked to protein liquid-liquid phase separation.

Recent research shows that protein liquid-liquid phase separation is widely present in cells and drives a variety of important biological functions. The cellular condensates formed by liquid-liquid phase separation have been associated with various human diseases, although the causative molecular mechanisms remain to be established. This calls for effective target identification studies to enable successful drug discovery programs for this class of diseases.

The collaboration between Insilico and the University of Cambridge will focus on major human diseases linked to protein liquid-liquid phase separation. According to the agreement, the two parties will combine the pioneering approach introduced by Prof. Michele Vendruscolo's group at the University of Cambridge, which allows for the proteome-wide prediction of the propensity of proteins to form liquid condensates, with the power of PandaOmics by Insilico to link these proteins with cellular processes and human disease. The outcome will be a series of targets for drug discovery, with the goal of modulating their cytotoxic behavior pharmacologically upon liquid-liquid phase separation.

"Professor Michele Vendruscolo's lab is one of the world's top centers of competence and knowledge creation in neurodegenerative diseases and protein homeostasis. I am deeply honored to know that a graduate student equipped with the AI-powered target discovery tool PandaOmics may have a chance to contribute to this very promising research direction" said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., founder and CEO, Insilico.

"I am delighted that we will have the opportunity to join forces with Insilico. By working together, we will be in a strong position to identify the biological processes and the corresponding proteins representing the best targets for pharmacological interventions for human diseases caused by aberrant liquid-liquid phase separation," said Prof. Michele Vendruscolo, Co-Director, Centre for Misfolding Diseases, Yusuf Hamied Department of Chemistry, University of Cambridge.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery company, is developing artificial intelligence platforms. These platforms use deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and age-related diseases. Website http://insilico.com/

SOURCE Insilico Medicine

Related Links

http://insilico.com/

Insilico Medicine Appoints the Former Chief Medical Officer of Schering Plough, Dr. Robert Spiegel, MD, FACP, as acting Chief Medical Officer (CMO) to Oversee the Clinical Translation of its Preclinical Pipeline Assets

SHANGHAI and NEW YORK, Sept. 2, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end AI-powered drug discovery company, today announced the appointment of Robert Spiegel as acting CMO to oversee the clinical translation of its preclinical pipeline assets.

Dr. Spiegel brings over 35 years of extensive R&D executive and operational experience in biopharmaceuticals and as an advisor to venture capital and private equity firms.

"It is a great opportunity to be joining Insilico Medicine at this time in the company's evolution. Insilico has a broad discovery pipeline based on the identification of critical pathways affecting acute and chronic systems biology in multiple therapy areas. These include oncology, immunology, inflammation, and infectious diseases. Multiple innovative preclinical programs are targeted to enter the clinic in the coming years. Insilico Medicine offers a unique opportunity to improve the lives of patients with serious and life-threatening disorders. Insilico is built to utilize AI to bring speed and predictive value to the discovery and development process. I am very excited to be part of an innovative company in this field and bringing their discoveries to the clinic." stated Dr. Spiegel.

In August, Insilico nominated the second preclinical candidate for kidney fibrosis following the announcement of the nomination of the idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) candidate in February 2021.

Following a fellowship at the National Institutes of Health in medical oncology, Dr. Spiegel was the Director of Developmental Therapeutics at NYU Cancer Center. He spent over 25 years at Schering-Plough (now Merck & Co.), where he joined as the first Director for Oncology Clinical Research, and has subsequently held a series of senior executive positions, including SVP Worldwide Clinical Development and Chief Medical Officer from 1998-2010. Dr. Spiegel led the development of Intron A (interferon alpha), Temodar® (temozolomide), and Remicade® (infliximab), and was involved in the approval process of over 30 New Drug Applications by the Food and Drug Administration. Dr. Spiegel has been a consultant to the biotech industry and has served on the scientific advisory board and board of directors of multiple biotech companies. He received his undergraduate degree, cum laude, from Yale University and his medical degree from the University of Pennsylvania. 

"Dr. Spiegel brings decades of clinical research and regulatory experience and one of the industry's broadest networks in the clinical space. Our intention is to use our technology to develop clinical-stage assets in house as well as strengthen and validate Inclinico, our clinical trial outcome prediction and optimization engine", said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine. 

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery company, is developing artificial intelligence platforms. These platforms use deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and ageing-related diseases. 

Website: http://insilico.com/

Media Contact

For further information, images, or interviews, please contact pr@insilico.com.

SOURCE Insilico Medicine 

Insilico Medicine Collaborates with Gray Matter to Fight Age-related Cognitive Decline

Insilico Medicine Announces a Strategic AI-driven R&D Collaboration with Gray Matter on Fighting Age-related CNS Diseases and Aging

HONG KONG, Sept. 1, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Insilico Medicine is pleased to announce an R&D collaboration with Gray Matter, a longevity biotechnology company focused on peptide-based interventions against cognitive decline, age-related CNS diseases, and aging. This strategic partnership is intended to speed up the discovery of new therapeutic targets for peptide therapy in the field of age-related cognitive decline and involve Insilico Medicine's AI-augmented platforms and close cooperation between the Gray Matter and Insilico Medicine scientists.


The prevalence of mild cognitive impairment (MCI) rises from 6.7% (1 in every 14 people) for ages 60–64 to 25.2% (1 in every four people) for the 80–84 cohort. People diagnosed with MCI are 3-5 times more likely to develop dementia of some form. With the adult population growing older and the increase in the need for health and social services, the public health community is challenged to be proactive. This is particularly important as these issues can impact not only older adults but also their families and friends who act as caregivers.


Peptide therapy is well suited to develop treatments for chronic conditions such as MCI. There is a considerable amount of longitudinal data on peptides which indicates that the class may present a more favorable risk-benefit profile as compared to interventions based on gene therapy, cell therapy and other novel approaches. Moreover, the production of peptide-based drugs can be more cost-effective compared to other novel drug types.

"We aim to develop a new generation of safe and effective therapies to help patients live longer, healthier lives with their cognition intact. We see a remarkable synergy between our rapid iterative approach based on proprietary peptide discovery engine Reptide and AI-powered target discovery by Insilico Medicine. This collaboration is intended to help Gray Matter further to reduce costs and timeline for early drug development," said Alexey Strygin, co-founder and CEO of Gray Matter.

"Insilico is advancing its latest target identification systems utilizing machine learning, generative biology methods, and synthetic data generation pipelines, and we are pleased to be collaborating with Gray Matter on its target identification efforts. Searching for peptide targets is an important modality of the target discovery in general, and we are happy to apply our technology in this challenging area," said Alex Zhavoronkov, CEO of Insilico Medicine.

In August, Insilico Medicine nominated the second preclinical candidate for kidney fibrosis.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery company, is developing artificial intelligence platforms. These platforms use deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and ageing-related diseases. Website http://insilico.com/

For further information, images, or interviews, please contact pr@insilico.com.

About Gray Matter

Gray Matter is a preclinical biotechnology company with a therapeutic pipeline in cognitive decline, age-related CNS diseases, and aging. Gray Matter is a part of the Lactocore group. The Lactocore group develops drugs in stress-related and metabolic disorders, leveraging deep scientific expertise in regulatory peptides, including those in mammalian milk, and a proprietary computational discovery platform.

Media and Investor relations: ir@graymatter.bio

Website https://graymatter.bio/

LI https://www.linkedin.com/company/graymatterbio/

SOURCE Insilico Medicine
Related Links

https://insilico.com

Endurance RP Limited (Stock Code: 0575.HK) Announces 2021 Interim Results

 

Significant Milestones Achieved on the Commercialisation of Fortacin™ and Business Expansion



HONG KONG, Aug. 30, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Endurance RP Limited ("Endurance Longevity" or the "Company" and together with its subsidiaries, the "Group"; stock code: 0575.HK), a Hong Kong-based investment company specializing in growth and value-led investments in the healthcare and late-stage life science sector, is pleased to announce the unaudited consolidated interim results for the 6 months ended 30 June 2021 ("Reviewing Period").

Key Financial Highlights


As at 30 June 2021,


Profit attributable to the shareholders of the Company was approximately US$2.66 million (2020: loss of approximately US$27.16 million).


Shareholders' equity increased by 6.27% to approximately US$53.46 million (31 December 2020: US$50.31 million)

Financial Performance

The Group reported a profit of approximately US$2.66 million which was mainly attributable to: (i) an unrealised marked-to-market gain in respect of the Company's equity portfolio of FAFVPL of approximately US$12.18 million; (ii) a milestone payment of US$3.20 million, and (iii) an unrealised gain in respect of the Company's derivatives of approximately US$3.05 million; while being offset somewhat by: (iv) an amortisation charge of approximately US$11.15 million on the intangible assets, being non-cash items; and (v) the Group's operating expenses of approximately US$5.38 million.

Shareholders' equity increased to approximately US$53.46 million, an increase of approximately 6.27% as compared with that at 31 December 2020, with the increase being mainly attributable to the profit attributable to shareholders of the Company. As at 30 June 2021, the Group had approximately US$16.10 million in cash and listed securities and the gearing ratio (being long-term debts over total equity and long-term debts) was approximately 20.19% (31 December 2020: 21.23%).

The Group received US$2.88 million net of PRC withholding tax from Wanbang Biopharmaceutical, the Company's commercial strategic partner for China in respect of obtaining clinical trial approval for Senstendä (the marketing name of Fortacinä in Mainland China) from the Centre of Drug Evaluation (CDE) in China on 5 February 2021.

Significant Progress in Healthcare and Life Sciences Businesses

The Group's healthcare, life sciences and wellness investments are far less sensitive to macro-economic fundamentals and fluctuations and remain its core focus. Despite the difficulties presented by the COVID-19 pandemic, the Group remained active in strengthening its relationships and continuing its negotiations with potential commercial partners and stakeholders on our investment projects.

The Group has appointed a leading global marketing consulting firm to conduct comprehensive analysis of patients, physicians, and healthcare providers on their willingness to cover and level of price sensitivity for coverage for Fortacin™ across the US. The survey has confirmed that a price of US$90 to US$150 is sustainable for the proposed US presentation of Fortacin™. Further, the target product profile would result in over 80% being prepared to consider Fortacin™ as an effective treatment, an outstanding result. In respect of the US Phase II validation study, the clinical research organisation has successfully completed the prespecified data analysis from the 16 sites undertaken to validate the FDA mandated patient reported outcome (the "PRO") for premature ejaculation. Overall, the study confirms the safety and efficacy of Fortacin™. The new data will be used to refine the final Phase III RCT protocol, which is already prepared, and suitable clinical sites screen for expedient and good clinical practice enrolment. The Group anticipates submitting the study to the FDA by the end of August 2021 as another big step in commercialising Fortacin™ in the US. The Group is currently securing a partner just ahead of or while the Group conducts the Phase III trial.

Jamie Gibson, Chief Executive Officer of the Company commented, "We are excited to announce our first interim results under our new entity. We were able to perform strongly through to 30 June 2021 while operating in a difficult environment due to COVID-19, achieving a number of significant milestones. With our streamlined focus, sensible capital structure and redefined market position, we remain optimistic about the future prospects for the Group and its shareholders and will: (i) continue to pursue the successful commercialisation of Fortacin™ / Senstend™ as quickly as possible, with the Over-the-Counter (OTC) roll-out continuing, as well as in the remaining key markets of the US, China, Asia, Latin America and the Middle East; (ii) commercialise DLI's Young.AI mobile App and the Young.AI website, together with partnering with clinics, laboratories and insurance companies by offering its AgeMetric™ reports and access to its online platform; (iii) continue monitoring its investments in Venturex and West China; and (iv) continue with its existing strategy of pursuing strategic and value-led investments in the healthcare and life sciences sectors."

Meanwhile, Senstend™ obtained clinical trial approval from the CDE on 5 February 2021. Wanbang Biopharmaceutical will now focus its efforts with assistance from the Group towards commencement of the RCT in China. Wanbang Biopharmaceutical will commence manufacturing clinical supplies (both active and placebo) in late August 2021 from PSNW. The commercial scale up to increase the current batch size per each manufacturing run to 50,000 units from 15,000 units will now commence in September 2021 after the latest commercial batch has been manufactured in August 2021. Wanbang Biopharmaceutical has appointed a leading contract research organisation to undertake the phase III double blinded multi-centre RCT and the Group looks forward to undertaking this next critical step towards commercialisation of Senstend™ in China.

Orient EuroPharma has launched Fortacin™ in Hong Kong and Macau with limited supply as it will now not receive its full launch compliment until September 2021. Official launch of Fortacin™ in Taiwan will be in September 2021. In terms of other out-licensing opportunities, the Company is in discussions with its commercial strategic partners for the Middle East, India, North America and Latin America (LATAM) region.

The Group has continued to implement and integrate the acquisition of Deep Longevity, Inc (DLI), which completed in December 2020, which will serve as a key platform for the Group's expansion into the health and wellness sector. During the Reviewing Period, a core focus has been on DLI's three main business segments, being: (i) Direct to Consumer through its Young.AI app providing biological, behavioural, and psychological aging clock tracking and recommendations designed to slow down or reverse biological aging. DLI is also constantly developing and patenting new aging clocks utilising new data types; (ii) the provision of its AgeMetric™ biological age reports to clinics and medical doctors for a fee; and (iii) providing age prediction and recommendation services via software as a service (SaaS) AI and on-premises instalment to the life and health insurance companies.


About Endurance RP Limited (Stock code: 0575.HK)

Endurance Longevity is a diversified investment group based in Hong Kong currently holding various corporate and strategic investments focusing on the healthcare, wellness and life sciences sectors. The Group has a strong track record of investments and has returned approximately US$298 million to shareholders in the 24 years of financial reporting since its initial public offering in May 1997.

www.endurancerp.com

Insilico Medicine and 4B Technologies Announce Strategic Collaboration in Advancing Novel Drug Discovery for Neurodegenerative Diseases

 SHANGHAI, Aug. 27, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Insilico Medicine ("Insilico"), an end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, and 4B Technologies Co., Ltd. ("4B Technologies"), a leading end-to-end innovative biopharmaceutical company focusing on nervous system diseases, signed a strategic collaboration agreement in advancing the development of innovative small molecule therapies for amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) and other major neurological diseases.

This strategic collaboration will enable Insilico's AI technology to be widely applied in various stages of R&D to speed up novel drug discovery by combining 4B Technologies' breakthrough science and cutting-edge platform technologies in CNS drug discovery and development. Both companies will work together closely in an effort to discover novel treatment for ALS through identifying high quality targets and therapeutic agents with an aim of improving the efficiency and probability of success to benefit patients worldwide.

ALS is a rapidly progressive and fatal neurodegenerative disease recognized by the World Health Organization (WHO) as one of the five incurable diseases with no effective treatments to date and an average surviving duration of 3-5 years.   

"4B Technologies is a leading neurological diseases company, co-founded by Dr. Bai Lu, a renowned neuroscientist and professor at Tsinghua University, and Dr. Xiaoming Guan, former vice president of neurological diseases R&D at GSK. Insilico is an industry leader in AI-driven drug discovery with a track record of accelerated drug discovery process. From target to preclinical candidates, Insilico successfully nominated two novel compounds for the treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and kidney fibrosis within 24 months.  We have established collaborations with multiple leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Pfizer, Astellas, Merck, UCB, Janssen and Taisho. Now we are pleased to partner with 4B Technologies to address the unmet medical needs for the treatment of ALS. This collaboration will leverage Insilico's unique synthetic biology and synthetic chemistry AI platform and 4B Technologies' deep insights in targeting strategies, biology, translational research and clinical medicine in the field of neurological diseases to accelerate novel drug discovery for ALS," said Feng Ren, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Drug R&D at Insilico.

"Traditional drug R&D is a time-consuming and expensive process. It takes an average of 10 years and $2.6 billion for a novel drug to be developed. The application of AI technologies in drug discovery and development has made great progress in recent years and has the potential to transform the pharmaceutical industry by significantly shortening timelines and reducing cost. Neurodegenerative diseases including ALS pose great challenges in medical research and are one of our key focuses. 4B Technologies is establishing a broad ALS alliance with academia, hospitals, patient groups, and industrial partners. Our collaboration with Insilico will enable 4B to apply leading AI technology to expediate our R&D process, leverage strengths and synergy from both sides to develop breakthrough treatment of ALS," said Xiaoming Guan, Ph.D., Chief Executive Officer of 4B Technologies.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery company, is developing artificial intelligence platforms. These platforms use deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and age-related diseases.

Website: www.insilico.com

About 4B Technologies

4B Technologies was founded with its mission to focus on novel medicines for neurodegenerative diseases and neurological injuries. With deep insights in neurosciences and CNS drug discovery, we have developed a strategic framework to increase probability of success by tackling key challenges faced in CNS drug research and development, including targeting strategy, animal model development, basic-to-clinical translation, biomarkers, and clinical trial design. Through in-house drug discovery efforts as well as strategic alliance with academic and industrial partners, 4B Technologies has built and is advancing a pipeline of innovative medicines into the clinic to validate their therapeutic potentials. Our aspiration is to become a global leader in developing innovative medicines for neurological diseases.

Website: www.4btechnologies.com

Contact: pr@insilico.com

 

Source: Insilico Medicine

Related Links:

• http://insilicomedicine.com
• https://insilico.com

Insilico Medicine Announces an AI-driven PROTAC R&D Collaboration with Arvinas

 HONG KONG, Aug. 9, 2021-- Insilico Medicine is proud to announce an R&D collaboration with Arvinas (NASDAQ: ARVN). This strategic partnership will involve Insilico Medicine's AI-augmented platforms and close cooperation between Arvinas' and Insilico Medicine's scientists on novel PROTACs. The collaboration will include the design of transformative treatment modalities for existing and next-generation targets; and demonstrate the impact of combining AI with one of the most significant breakthrough technologies in drug discovery - PROTACs.

"Arvinas is the pioneer of PROTAC technology and a leader in protein degradation therapeutics. We look forward to collaborating with Arvinas in this innovative field and to building a lasting relationship," said Alex Zhavoronkov Ph.D., CEO of Insilico Medicine.

    In July the company announced the completion of a $255 million round led by Warburg Pincus and joined by over 25 high-profile investors, and in August,  it nominated the second preclinical candidate for kidney fibrosis.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery company, is developing artificial intelligence platforms. These platforms use deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and ageing-related diseases. Since its inception, Insilico Medicine has raised over $300 million from reputable financial, biotechnology, and information technology investors.

Website http://insilico.com/

 For further information, images, or interviews, please contact pr@insilico.com.

Insilico Medicine and Usynova Announce Strategic Partnership on Accelerating R&D of Small Molecule Innovative Drugs with AI

     SHANGHAI, Aug. 5, 2021 /PRNewswire/ -- Insilico Medicine, an industry leader in end-to-end artificial intelligence for target discovery, small molecule chemistry, and clinical development, and Usynova announced to reach strategic cooperation in advancing the development of novel therapies.

The agreement outlines a constructive framework where the two parties will combine the advantages of Insilico Medicine's AI-powered drug discovery platform with Usynova's experience in the small molecule innovative drug development to accelerate the development of small molecule innovative drugs, with a view to jointly addressing significant unmet medical needs and tackling novel and challenging targets in cancer and autoimmune diseases.

Insilico Medicine is a global leader in AI-powered drug discovery companies. Since 2014, Insilico Medicine developed the AI-powered drug discovery platform consisting of PandaOmics™ AI-powered novel target discovery engine, Chemistry42™ deep generative reinforcement learning system allowing for the de-novo design of novel molecules with the desired properties that do not exist in the known chemical space, and InClinico™, which predicts clinical trial outcome.

Usynova is an innovative enterprise on drug R&D, the founding team members of which come from multinational pharmaceutical enterprises and domestic CRO leading companies and possess rich experience in drug R&D. Focusing on the two major areas of autoimmune diseases and cancer, the enterprise has built platforms for small molecule chemical drugs and biomacromolecule drugs, developed several pipeline products at different R&D stages, and carried out two clinical trials. The cooperation between the two parties will accelerate the introduction of first-in-class and best-in-class small molecule innovative drugs to patients worldwide.

"China is on the path to becoming the source of truly innovative medicines for the world. We are very pleased to contribute to this important trend by partnering with the innovative biotechnology company, Usynova, to discover novel biomedicines utilizing the latest advances in next-generation artificial intelligence", said Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov, CEO of Insilico Medicine.

"We are honored to be a partner with Usynova, who takes the commitment to develop First-in-Class and Best-in-Class drugs. Insilico Medicine will make full use of the advantages of the AI-powered drug discovery platform, accelerate the R&D of small molecule innovative drugs of Usynova from the aspects of target screening, molecular design, compound synthesis, and work together with Usynova to provide subversive and efficient solutions for unmet clinical needs", said Dr. Ren Feng, the Chief Scientist of Insilico Medicine.

"Insilico Medicine has unique technical capabilities in target discovery and generative chemistry. We hope that the cooperation between the two parties can effectively improve the efficiency and accuracy of small molecule drug R&D. The combination of innovative drug companies and artificial intelligence (AI) technology platforms will definitely change the traditional model of innovative drug R&D in the future. Especially the fact that AI technology provides a new solution for discovering preclinical candidates compounds for novel and difficult targets. We are committed to explore an efficient drug R&D path jointly", said Dr. Hu Tao, the Chief Executive Officer of Usynova.

"Usynova's innovation focuses on the R&D in the fields of cancer and autoimmune diseases and aiming at meeting unmet medical needs. We are pleased to apply Insilico Medicine's cutting-edge AI technology platform to conduct in-depth explorations on novel target identification and drug development for novel and difficult targets. We are aiming to develop first-in-class drugs for the benefit of the cancer and autoimmune patients worldwide", said Dr. Peng Shengbin, the Chief Scientist of Usynova.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end artificial intelligence driven drug discovery company，develops artificial intelligence systems Pharma.AI（www.insilico.com/platform/）that utilize deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques for identify the novel target and generate new molecular structures with specific properties, and provides breakthrough solution for the discovery and development of innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and aging-related diseases. Since its inception in 2014, Insilico Medicine has reached strategic collaboration with more than 30 drug development companies in the United States, Europe, China, Japan and other countries and regions, and launched new multiple internal R&D pipelines for novel, difficult and previously undruggable targets.

About Usynova

Usynova Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (Shanghai) is an innovative drug R&D enterprise established in January 2020. The enterprise focuses on the treatment of autoimmune diseases and cancer. With the establishment of small molecule drug platforms and biomacromolecule drug platforms, it currently has nearly 10 pipeline products at different R&D stages. Among these product, the indications of UA007 are chemotherapy-induced diarrhea (CID) and chemotherapy-induced neutropenia (CIN). the Phase IIa clinical trial of such product have been completed with excellent POC results, and multiple phase IIb clinical trials are ongoing currently. The product has a number of global patents, and has been funded by the special national project on major new drug R&D. CID is one of the main side effects of cancer chemotherapy, and it is also an important reason for patients to withdraw from chemotherapy. However, there are no effective therapeutic drugs for CID currently. Small molecule pipeline products for targets with poor druggability will also be advanced to the clinical stage in the next few years. The enterprise has established a complete team covering early drug discovery, protein drug production, antibody preparation, pre-clinical and clinical studies, and drug registration application.

Contact: pr@insilico.com

SOURCE Insilico Medicine Hong Kong Limited