Drug Discovery and Development Archives - Page 2 of 159

Study combines biomimetic AI, digital twins and multiomics to unveil potential genetic drivers of endometriosis

The study developed a biomimetic digital twin ecosystem that tailors analysis to endometriosis research. This system integrates expert knowledge and raw clinical data to improve identification and analysis of molecular profiles linked to the disease. Image licensed under Creative Commons from The Journal of Molecular Diagnostics. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jmoldx.2024.03.004, Figure 2.

Endometriosis, a condition where endometrial tissue grows outside the uterus, has a strong genetic underpinning. A new study published in the Journal of Molecular Diagnostics sheds light on this connection. Researchers from a team including Genzeva, LumaGene, RYLTI Biopharma, Brigham & Women’s Hospital of Harvard University and QIAGEN Digital Insights used a unique approach in their analysis of endometriosis patient samples. They combined multiple data sources, spanning multiomics data, next-generation sequencing, phenot…

How the FDA approval of J&J’s Opsynvi could simplify treatment and improve outcomes for PAH patients

[J&J]

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare, progressive and life-threatening blood vessel disorder, affects some 500 to 1,000 new patients each year in the U.S. FDA recently approved Opsynvi, a first-of-its-kind once-daily single-tablet combination therapy from Johnson & Johnson.

“With this approval, our portfolio now includes treatments that address all three guideline-recommended pathways,” said a J&J spokesperson, highlighting the therapy’s alignment with current clinical guidelines recommending early use of combination therapy. The three treatment pathways include the endothelin, prostacyclin and nitric oxide (NO)-soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC)-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) pathways.

The impact of Opsynvi PAH combination therapy

Before the approval, the DUE study for the combination therapy was featured in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The tria…

How the FDA approval of J&J’s Opsynvi could simplify treatment and improve outcomes for PAH patients

[J&J]

Pulmonary arterial hypertension (PAH), a rare, progressive and life-threatening blood vessel disorder, affects some 500 to 1,000 new patients each year in the U.S. FDA recently approved Opsynvi, a first-of-its-kind once-daily single-tablet combination therapy from Johnson & Johnson.

“With this approval, our portfolio now includes treatments that address all three guideline-recommended pathways,” said a J&J spokesperson, highlighting the therapy’s alignment with current clinical guidelines recommending early use of combination therapy. The three treatment pathways include the endothelin, prostacyclin and nitric oxide (NO)-soluble guanylate cyclase (sGC)-cyclic guanosine monophosphate (cGMP) pathways.

The impact of Opsynvi PAH combination therapy

Before the approval, the DUE study for the combination therapy was featured in The Journal of the American College of Cardiology. The tria…

From AI transformers to computer-based reasoning to rethinking drug design: AI pioneers discuss the future

Jensen Huang at GTC

In a packed panel discussion at GTC, moderated by NVIDIA Founder and CEO Jensen Huang, the architects of the groundbreaking transformer model gathered to explore their creation’s potential. The panel featured seven of the eight authors of the seminal “Attention Is All You Need Paper” paper, which introduced transformers – a type of neural network designed to handle sequential data, like text or time series, in a way that allows for much more parallel processing than previous architectures like recurrent neural networks (RNNs). Transformers accomplish this through a mechanism called “attention,” which enables the model to differentially weigh the importance of different parts of the input data.

The transformer architecture powers large language models like GPT-4 and has ignited widespread interest in AI applications across industries including in biology, wher…

Creating chemical diversity with flow chemistry

[Orb Pilot Scale up Reactor: Image from Syrris]

Flow chemistry techniques are increasingly being used in drug discovery to provide cost-effective access to a wide range of structurally diverse small molecule analogs, as well as access to previously underused or inaccessible chemistries. There are several ways that this powerful technique can be used to increase structural diversity when building candidate molecules, including linear progression from diverse starting materials, multicomponent reactions around core structural motifs, synthesis of uncommon low diversity starting material sub-sets, and convergent synthesis approaches. The diversity of the starting components is a key consideration when deciding the most suitable strategy for each specific application, but the development of automated, modular flow chemistry systems has made all these approaches far easier to achieve. Here we outline the various methods and…

Genentech’s lab in the loop aims to tap the power of quantity for quality drug discovery

[NVIDIA]

We can design chips that power self-driving cars and create physically-realistic video footage based on text descriptions. Yet, as Genentech’s Aviv Regev pointed out in a session about the company’s lab in the loop at NVIDIA’s GTC conference, the humble cells within us operate with a complexity that still eludes our full understanding.

It turns out that a cell is itself like a computational device with circuits and code, Regev said. These molecular “circuits” interact with each other, receive information, make decisions, and execute them. “These molecular circuits — they’re hard to reverse engineer,” she said. That hasn’t stopped scientists from spending decades trying to model and predict their behavior. “Mostly unsuccessfully, I can tell you,” Regev added.

But what if we could harness the same technological power driving those other breakthroughs to unravel t…

NVIDIA exec on how ‘NIMs’ can help biopharma navigate the challenges of deploying generative AI

[Image courtesy of Nvidia]

The buzz surrounding generative AI may be undeniable, but its real-world impact on heavily-regulated sectors like drug discovery continues to evolve. Consequently, most drug candidates, circa 90%, continue to fail. Kimberly Powell, vice president of Healthcare at NVIDIA, believes that a new microservices-based offering known as NIMs (NVIDIA Inference Microservices) could help pharma firms navigate this maze. “NIMs were built for the healthcare space, which has very private data,” Powell explained. Healthcare companies, including drug developers, “don’t always want to go to a cloud service. They want to do it in their own environment. We want to give them that capability,” she added.

To date, NVIDIA is offering about two dozen new healthcare microservices with more to follow.

NIMs intend to help scale AI deployment across infrastructures

NIMs, which …

NVIDIA expands BioNeMo platform with new foundation models and microservices for AI-powered Drug Discovery

The most recent NVIDIA BioNeMo foundation models can help drug discovery groups design drug molecules virtually. [Credit: NVIDIA]

NVIDIA is putting the power of generative AI for drug discovery into the hands of more pharmaceutical and biotech companies with an expanded collection of AI models and flexible deployment options. More than 100 firms are already using the company’s biomolecular BioNeMo platform to accelerate the development of therapeutics.

“For the first time in history, we can represent the world of biology and chemistry in a computer, making computer-aided drug discovery possible,” said Kimberly Powell, NVIDIA VP of healthcare, in a press briefing. “By helping healthcare companies easily build and manage AI solutions, we’re enabling them to harness the full power and potential of generative AI.”

The latest additions to BioNeMo, announced today at NVIDIA G…

Denmark teams up with Novo Nordisk Foundation, NVIDIA to launch visionary AI research center

A total of 15,128 NVIDIA H100 Tensor Core GPUs (pictured here) will be used in the Denmark AI Innovation Center. The hardware can support the development of advanced AI applications, from protein structure prediction to quantum computing research.

A collaboration between the Novo Nordisk Foundation, the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), and NVIDIA will establish a national AI Innovation Centre in Denmark focused on accelerating research and innovation in fields including healthcare, life science, and quantum computing. The initiative is led on the Danish side by the Novo Nordisk Foundation, which has committed roughly DKK 600 million (around $90 million) toward the initial costs of the center, and the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark (EIFO), which has contributed another DKK 100 million.

In a press briefing, Kimberly Powell, NVIDIA’s VP of healthcare, highlighted Denmark’s “…

Iambic Therapeutics and NVIDIA partner to slash cancer drug development timelines

Using generative AI in drug discovery, Iambic Therapeutics (formerly Entos) has advanced its IAM1363 drug candidate from program launch to clinical studies in fewer than 24 months — a process that often takes several years. Iambic Therapeutics’ AI drug development milestone relied on an alliance with NVIDIA researchers and engineers and through the use of AI tools, including NeuralPLexer, a generative AI model designed to predict the three-dimensional structure and binding interactions of protein-ligand complexes.

The company has since developed the next generation of the model, dubbed NeuralPLexer2 that boasts higher accuracy and new features for biomolecular structure prediction and drug design.

IAM1363 is a selective, brain-penetrant inhibitor designed to treat HER2-driven cancers. It is designed to target metastatic tumors throughout the body, including the brain, while offering a wider therapeutic index and reduced toxicity over existing therapies. Read more

Q&A: How Insilico Medicine’s AI identified a new IPF drug target in record time

Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D.

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF), a devastating lung disease affecting millions with increasing incidence, may have a new treatment hope thanks to a novel inhibitor of TNIK, a kinase newly implicated in fibrosis, identified using generative AI drug discovery platforms in just 18 months.

Researchers at Insilico Medicine, along with international collaborators, harnessed the power of AI platforms PandaOmics and Chemistry42 to make a breakthrough discovery. Nature Biotechnology recently published the group’s findings, showcase the potential of AI to accelerate drug discovery. The scientists identified TNIK as a promising therapeutic target for fibrotic diseases and developed INS018_055, a potent TNIK inhibitor. Preclinical models demonstrated INS018_055’s superior anti-fibrotic and anti-inflammatory effects compared to current treatments.

Beyond fibrotic diseas…

Could Wegovy’s cardiovascular label expansion be a catalyst for GLP-1 obesity drug coverage?

[catalin/Adobe Stock]

The recent FDA approval of a cardiovascular risk reduction indication for Wegovy (semaglutide) could point toward a significant opportunity for pharma companies seeking to reshape payer perceptions and expand coverage for next-gen metabolic therapies. This regulatory shift, allowing Wegovy to be prescribed for reducing the risk of major adverse cardiovascular events such as heart attack and stroke in addition to weight loss, aligns with mounting payer pressure to address the worsening obesity epidemic, which could impact 60% to 80% of the population of Western nations by the middle of the century. The dynamic has the potential to break down long-standing reimbursement barriers for effective yet costly medications.

Payers reckoning with the complex economics of obesity

There were already signs of change. While around 25% of employers provided coverage for GLP-1 drugs like Wegovy and Ozempic …