Predictive Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ:POAI) and Cancer Research Horizons, the innovation engine at the core of the world’s largest private funder of cancer research, Cancer Research UK (CRUK), have announced a partnership to drive the development of oncology drugs utilizing Predictive Oncology’s PEDAL platform.
Minneapolis, Minnesota-based Predictive Oncology said the collaboration will utilize its PEDAL technology to evaluate Cancer Research Horizons’ pre-clinical drug inhibitors of Glutaminase to determine which cancer types and patient populations are most likely to respond to treatment with these compounds.
The company explained that PEDAL is an artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning platform which makes high-confidence drug response predictions enabling a more informed selection of drug-tumor-type combinations for clinical development. PEDAL increases the probability of clinical success by efficiently addressing tumor heterogeneity during pre-clinical stages, it added.
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“Our collaboration with Cancer Research Horizons represents a fundamental shift in drug discovery that could lead to the accelerated development of cancer therapies using compounds originating from the CRUK network and developed by Cancer Research Horizons in partnership with their global network,” Predictive Oncology CEO Raymond said in a statement. “We now have the ability to impact the most critical stage of early drug discovery in a way that has never been done before.”
Predictive Oncology said the agreement bridges nonprofit and industry, including revenue sharing for compounds developed, and offers the potential for Cancer Research Horizons to incorporate PEDAL into future drug discovery processes. It noted that Cancer Research Horizons realizes cancer patients benefit from not-for-profit research and works closely with leading cancer scientists, institutes and companies to protect, develop and commercialize oncology-related discoveries.
“We are committed to working closely with scientists to discover and advance therapies that can help in the fight against cancer,” explained Tony Hickson, chief business officer for Cancer Research UK and Cancer Research Horizons. “Ensuring that patients receive the right treatment for them is of paramount importance and is why we are excited to work with Predictive Oncology to identify the most suitable population for the further development of our compounds.
“We look forward to applying Predictive Oncology’s expertise, enabling technology and dedication to progress exciting cancer therapeutics. We consider the potential of this collaboration a win for patients not just in the UK or US, but worldwide.”
As a science-driven company on the leading edge of oncology drug discovery, Predictive Oncology offers an unrivaled suite of solutions for the biopharma industry.
Through the integration of scientific rigor and machine learning, the company has developed the ability to advance molecules into medicine more confidently by introducing human diversity earlier into the discovery process with the pairing of artificial intelligence and the world’s largest privately held biobank of over 150,000 tumor samples.
Contact the author at stephen.gunnion@proactiveinvestors.com