GCIPoolbeg Pharma and OneThree Biotech partner to target new RSV treatments
(POLB ) is partnering with the artificial intelligence company, OneThree Biotech, to identify new drug targets and treatments for Respiratory Syncytial Virus (‘RSV’).
RSV, which is considered a significant public health threat, is a contagious respiratory virus that affects the respiratory tract of children and at-risk older adults; in severe cases, it can cause infections such as pneumonia as well as other life-threatening breathing difficulties.
The RSV virus affects an estimated 50-million people annually, leading to 4 million global hospitalisations and up to 74,500 in-hospital deaths in children under the age of 5 years.
Around 45% of these cases and deaths occur in new-born infants under the age of 6 months.
Poolbeg believes that its partnership with OneThree is the first time that AI analysis has been undertaken on RSV human challenge trial data and samples to identify new drug targets.
Under the terms of the agreement, OneThree Biotech’s artificial intelligence analysis tools will identify drug assets ‘which target immune-response pathways, have a higher probability of clinical success and have the potential to prevent and / or treat infectious diseases,’ it noted.
The analysis will prioritise drugs with existing Phase I safety data, reducing spend and risk, which can feed into Poolbeg clinical development strategy and its asset pipeline. The analysis is expected to commence in 1Q22 with preliminary outputs from this work expected in 2H22.
As a clinically validated AI company, OneThree Biotech operates a technology platform which is focused on integrating chemical, biological, and clinical data with computational tools in order ‘to answer complex questions surrounding disease biology and drug discovery.’
Under the deal, its team will work closely with Poolbeg’s scientific team to build a tailored AI analysis model ‘which can leverage the unique insights of human challenge trial data to identify disease-relevant cell signalling pathways which could lead to novel drug targets.’
Under the terms of the agreement, OneThree will receive milestone payments based on candidate development and royalties on the sale of products derived from the partnership.
Poolbeg says the unique nature of human challenge trials to produce disease progression data with high precision is expected to revolutionise the insights generated from this analysis.
The group’s lead asset POLB 001, which is currently progressing towards its first human challenge trial in June 2022, was identified using such disease progression data, it said.
However, by utilising artificial intelligence the Company aims to identify more targets, ‘quicker and more cost efficiently than previously possible without this technology,’ it told investors.
Poolbeg entered a partnership with Eurofins Genomics in October 2021 to complete RNA sequencing of Poolbeg’s RSV disease progression samples from human challenge trials.
The work was “a key step” in advancing its AI analysis programme, and this RSV discovery dataset has been specifically designed for incorporation into OneThree’s AI platform, it says.
Poolbeg explained to investors that the data sets within this project are expected to leverage up to 140Gb of biological data per subject and are expected to unveil unprecedented insights.
Commenting, Dr Jeremy Skillington, Chief Executive of Poolbeg Pharma, said: “OneThree Biotech’s AI analysis tools will allow us to break new ground in data-driven drug discovery, by allowing us to evaluate and interrogate human challenge trial data like never before.”
He said: “This is a key part of our growth strategy, as we’ll be able to identify and develop drugs in a more time and cost effective manner, compared with the traditional biotech model.”
Poolbeg said it believes identifying potential new treatments which have a higher probability of clinical success can feed into its “rapidly expanding pipeline in-line with a capital light model.”
The agreement with OneThree Biotech will be the first time artificial intelligence tools will be used to analyse RSV human challenge trial disease progression data; Poolbeg Pharma said this illustrates the significance of this deal, as well as the company’s “innovative model.”
Also commenting on the deal this morning, Brad Pryde, co-founder and COO of OneThree Biotech, concluded: “We have been impressed with Poolbeg Pharma’s clear dedication towards using technology and data to create efficiencies in drug discovery and development. We’re excited to demonstrate the strength of this partnership as future developments arise.”
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