Article reprint source: AIGC

Original source: Future Technology

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According to foreign media reports, pharmaceutical startup Iambic Therapeutics just announced a $100 million Series B financing last week. The funds will be used for cancer drug research and development to help them advance two drug projects developed through AI technology into the clinical stage.

According to Tom Miller, CEO of Iambic Therapeutics, drug development is not just about finding new disease targets. A large part of the research and development work is to find better ways to deal with disease targets that are already controlled by drugs. By understanding the interaction between drug molecules and known disease targets, researchers can design molecules that are more suitable for different patients.

Miller pointed out that the newly designed molecules can bind to the target protein without being affected by related proteins, which will improve the safety of the molecules. Another very important part of drug development is to find out what effect the distribution of molecules between different tissues in the body will have on drug efficacy. With the help of AI technology, the efficiency of drug development will be greatly improved.

“Through our AI technology platform, we can optimize not only the molecule, but different properties of the molecule,” Miller said of Iambic’s technology.

Many pharmaceutical companies are still developing new drugs based on physical principles, and then use AI technology to simulate drugs to understand how drug molecules interact with proteins. Companies such as Nimbus Therapeutics, Schrödinger and Relay Therapeutics are representatives of this type of R&D technology.

Other pharmaceutical companies generate data through experiments and use AI technology to analyze the data to gain biological and chemical insights. Companies such as Exscientia and Recursion Pharmaceuticals use this approach.

Miller said Iambic Therapeutics' technology merges the two technologies, first using physics-based insights and then enhancing them with data to make better predictive outcomes.

Miller said the new technology can identify new molecules with superior efficacy and safety. Moreover, this technology can not only find out whether new molecules can attack disease targets, but also reveal their other properties, such as their effects on targets, toxicity characteristics and how molecules move and interact in the body.

Miller believes that this is a technology that can successfully predict the ultimate ability of a drug. In the past two years, Iambic Therapeutics has developed four molecules developed by AI. The most advanced research project is about to reach the standard for entering the first phase of testing.

Iambic’s technology can be applied to a variety of indications, but its four current programs (including two expected to enter the clinic next year) are all aimed at cancer.

IAM-H1 is a small molecule that blocks HER2 and variants of this cancer-causing protein. In addition to being selective for this target, the molecule can penetrate the brain, a feature that could help treat cancers that have spread to the central nervous system.

IAM-C1 is a small molecule that selectively blocks CDK2 and CDK4, two enzymes associated with tumor growth. The three FDA-approved CDK inhibitors are Pfizer's Ibrance, Novartis' Kisqali, and Eli Lilly's drug Verzenio. All three drugs are best-sellers and have become standard drugs for breast cancer treatment. Iambic claims that its drug can selectively block two enzyme targets while sparing enzymes closely related to these targets.

Other properties of the Iambic drug include achieving a better therapeutic window (the range of doses in which a therapy is effective while minimizing adverse effects). The molecule is also designed to address drug resistance in cell cycle-driven cancers.

To support these projects and develop more, the La Jolla, California-based startup just raised $100 million in financing.

With the new financing, Iambic aims to advance both programs into Phase 1 testing next year. In addition to these two programs, Iambic’s third program will target an as-yet-undisclosed target, which could also enter clinical trials at any time.

Miller said that in addition to clinical trials, Iambic will continue to work on drug development. Miller believes that Iambic's focus is still on small molecule pharmaceuticals rather than biologics. They can expand their business to diseases other than cancer through collaboration.

Iambic’s employee roster is split evenly between software engineers and drug development scientists, a mix that reflects the fact that AI-driven drug development is inherently interdisciplinary.

Miller said: "We really believe that to be successful in this, we have to take advantage of both sides. We strive to embrace the expertise of AI technology. But we also realize that drug discovery and development is built on decades of experience. We also need to reflect this in the team."

Tom Miller

Tom Miller worked as a professor of chemistry at the University of Bristol and California Institute of Technology for 14 years. Based on the research of these two universities, he and his partners founded Entos, Inc. in 2019. In the recently announced Series B financing, the company was renamed Iambic.

Iambic's approach to combining AI technology with biotechnology is reflected in its investors. In 2021, the startup raised $53 million in a Series A round led by technology investment firm Coatue and Catalio Capital Management, which focuses on biomedical technology investments. The financing was mainly used to support the development of the startup's technology platform.

Iambic's latest round of financing was co-led by Ascenta Capital and Abingworth. New investors participating in this round of financing include Nvidia, Illumina Ventures, Gradiant Corporation and independent board member Bill Rastetter. Early investors participating in the latest financing include Nexus Ventures, Catalio Capital Management, Coatue, FreeFlow, OrbiMed and Sequoia Capital.

In addition to financial investment, Iambic also announced a partnership with NVIDIA in AI technology and financing. NVIDIA's computing technology is an indispensable part for many companies that rely on AI technology to develop drugs. The two parties will work together to develop the next generation of technology for drug development.