II: Weekly TechBio News
Latest Trends: 💈 Iktos and Cube Biotech, 💈 Insilico Medicine, 💈 Eli Lilly and Andreessen Horowitz, 💈 Valo Health and Novo Nordisk, 💈 Profluent and 💈 SciSparc and MitoCareX Bio
II: Weekly TechBio News
Latest Trends: 💈 Iktos and Cube Biotech, 💈 Insilico Medicine, 💈 Eli Lilly and Andreessen Horowitz, 💈 Valo Health and Novo Nordisk, 💈 Profluent and 💈 SciSparc and MitoCareX Bio
“Half the world is composed of people who have something to say and can't, and the other half who have nothing to say and keep on saying it.”
By Robert Frost
II: Weekly TechBio News
💈 Iktos and Cube Biotech
On January 10, 2025, Iktos and Cube Biotech, a pioneer in membrane protein production and purification technologies, announced a strategic collaboration to discover novel small molecule agonists of the Amylin Receptor (Iktos and Cube Biotech Announce Launch of Small Molecule AI Drug Discovery Collaboration). The partnership will combine Iktos' generative AI-driven drug discovery and robotic synthesis platform with Cube Biotech's advanced native membrane protein technology NativeMPTM, as well as their purification and biophysical assay expertise. The NativeMP™ technology by Cube Biotech is a world-leading protein production platform, which preserves the natural configuration of membrane proteins, a key advantage in accessing biologically active drug targets for testing. The company's native protein stabilization technology enhances the reliability and precision of functional assays, structural insights and downstream applications.
Iktos SA (2016, Paris, Ile-de-France, France) is well known for offering Makya, a generative AI-driven ligand and structure-based de novo design software for chemical space exploration and multi-parametric optimization (MPO) of lead compounds, Spaya, an AI-based retrosynthesis platform and Spaya API, a high throughput synthetic accessibility scoring tool for virtual molecule libraries.
Iktos and Cube Biotech plan to discover novel small molecule agonists of the Amylin Receptor. The amylin receptor agonists hold significant promise for addressing unmet medical needs in cardiometabolic disorders, including obesity, diabetes and metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic hepatitis (MASH). In particular, the Amylin Receptor regulates appetite and satiety, making it a compelling target for obesity, which affects over one-third of the global population. Existing GLP-1 receptor agonist therapies like semaglutide or the peptide Amylin analogue Pramlintide have limited impact due to high costs, accessibility and undesirable side effects.
For more about Owkin (Owkin, Inc), considered a top TechBio company, here:
💈 Insilico Medicine
On January 10, 2025, less than a year after their first collaboration, pharmaceutical giant Menarini Group and the AI-driven Top TechBio company Insilico Medicine are deepening their partnership (Menarini and Insilico ink $550M deal for AI-discovered cancer therapy) with a second collaboration that builds on the rapid progress of the AI-designed KAT6 inhibitor licensed in 2024, and includes $20M upfront payment with potential total value exceeding $550M plus tiered royalties. This second alliance follows the successful in-licensing of a preclinical KAT6 inhibitor in 2024, which quickly advanced into clinical development. So far, the new preclinical asset demonstrated broad anti-tumor activity across multiple solid tumor types.
In particular, their first collaboration started in January 2024 when Menarini Group and Insilico Medicine (and Stemline Therapeutics, Inc. a wholly-owned subsidiary of the Menarini Group) entered a global exclusive license agreement for novel KAT6 Inhibitor for potential breast cancer treatment and other oncology indications. The novel molecule was designed by Insilico’s R&D team with the help of its Pharma Generative AI platform, to inhibit KAT6A and block endocrine receptor (ER) at the transcriptional level, giving it the potential to overcome resistance to endocrine therapies due to mutation or ligand-independent constitutive activation of ER. Under the terms of the agreement, Stemline provided a $12M upfront payment to Insilico. The combined value of the deal, including all development, regulatory and commercial milestones, was over $500M, followed by royalties up to double digits.
Menarini’s first licensed therapy, currently in Phase 1 trials, is a potent and selective oral inhibitor of KAT6, an enzyme linked to various cancers. The KAT6A gene encodes a lysine (K) acetyltransferase that is a member of the MYST family of proteins. It forms part of a histone acetyltransferase complex that acetylates lysine-9 residues in histone 3 (see HIST1H3A, 602810), thus regulating transcriptional activity and gene expression.
In preclinical models, the first licensed therapy—dubbed MEN2312—blocks estrogen receptor activity at the transcription level, potentially overcoming hormone therapy resistance. MEN2312 is being evaluated both as a standalone treatment and in combination with standard of care for metastatic ER+/HER2- breast cancer.
Furthermore, on January 7, 2025 Insilico Medicine announced positive results from two separate Phase I studies in Australia and China of ISM5411, a novel gut-restricted and PHD specific Inhibitor designed and optimized with the support of Insilico's Chemistry42 commercially-available generative reinforcement learning platform, for Inflammatory Bowel Disease (Insilico Received Positive Topline Results from Two Phase 1 Trials of ISM5411, New Drug Designed Using Generative AI for the Treatment of Inflammatory Bowel Disease). ISM5411 was generally safe and well tolerated in all dose groups, demonstrating a favorable PK profile in validating gut-restrictive properties.
The preclinical candidate (PCC) nomination of ISM5411 took only 12 months, during which approximately 115 molecules were synthesized and screened. Since 2019, Insilico nominated 22 preclinical candidates out of its own chemistry and biology platform, 10 programs reached clinical stage, 1 successfully completed Phase IIa. The fastest PCC nomination was 9 months (QPCTL program).