‘Artificial’ discovery

BioXcel creates new artificial intelligence company to power biotech and pharma R&D

Rachel Flehinger
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BRANFORD, Conn.—BioXcel Corp., a privately held biopharmaceutical company applying artificial intelligence (AI) and Big Data to drive new drug discovery, recently announced the newest member of its family: InveniAI. According to BioXcel, InveniAI approaches AI with an aim to extend the human experience in the use of artificial intelligence over the discovery process with the ultimate goal of maximizing the commercial potential of new drugs.
 
There are two existing AI platforms under the InveniAI umbrella: EvolverAI, which specializes in unearthing hidden relationships between diseases, molecular targets and drugs to identify novel therapeutics and re-innovate existing drugs, and PharmGPS, which works to project the future performance trajectories of drugs in development. Both products are already in use by several established pharmaceutical and biotech companies.
 
“At InveniAI, our mission is to transform the pharma R&D landscape through the integration of robust AI and predictive analytics platforms developed specifically for biopharmaceutical application, with decades of drug development expertise,” says Dr. Krishnan Nandabalan, co-founder, president and chief scientific officer of BioXcel, who will also serve as CEO and president of InveniAI. “Our novel AI and Big Data engines enable comprehensive, insightful analysis of the ever-expanding body of research and data to inform actionable decisions. These newly-available analytical capabilities can greatly improve the probability of success of drug candidates. As a stand-alone company focused exclusively on improving drug development processes and outcomes, we believe we are ideally positioned to maximize the value we provide to our pharma and biotech customers and partners.”
 
BioXcel made the decision to form InveniAI as a separate company to capitalize on the growing reliance by pharma and biotech industry constituents on the analysis of large data sets via AI and deep-learning algorithms. Such Big Data analyses help enable a company to identify cost reductions and time reductions, assess new product development and optimized offerings and foster smart decision-making. InveniAI’s technology-assisted approach is expected to allow pharmaceutical companies to bring new therapies to patients with significantly greater efficiencies in time and cost.
 
BioXcel’s EvolverAI was built to optimize discovery of therapeutic agents by accelerating and increasing the understanding of interplay between disease biology and therapeutic agents. InveniAI’s partners leverage the platform to augment their critical R&D decisions at every step of the process. EvolverAI has the potential to support both the discovery of new therapeutic entities and give new life to stalled therapeutic candidates through a drug-re-innovation approach. EvolverAI is being offered to pharmaceutical and biotech companies on a partnership basis, with existing partners including Takeda, Centrexion Therapeutics and Axcella Health, among others.
 
EvolverAI will work in tandem with the analytical capability of their PharmGPS, a real-time, predictive, cognitive intelligence platform which provides actionable insights via both desktop and mobile interfaces to help prioritize promising drug candidates. The platform, which is offered on a subscription basis, allows clients to benchmark the assessment of future performance of drugs in development, allowing users to design, strategize, develop and commercialize the next breakthrough treatments. In addition to its use by pharma and biotech companies, PharmGPS is gaining acceptance among financial institutions to inform investment decisions.
 
In addition to Nandabalan serving as CEO and president of InveniAI, Aman Kant—BioXcel’s vice president and head of global sales and marketing—has been tapped as chief business officer of the newly-formed company.
 
Beyond the establishment of InveniAI, BioXcel has further specialized its business units with the launch of BioXcel Therapeutics Inc., a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company engaged in the development and advancement of new medicines. The company is focused on a drug re-innovation approach to develop therapeutic candidates with a high probability of clinical and regulatory success.
 
Dr. Vimal Mehta, co-founder, chairman and CEO of BioXcel, commented, “Since our formation more than a decade ago, BioXcel has been a pioneer in transforming the healthcare landscape by leveraging the power of technology to revolutionize pharmaceutical R&D. By separating our therapeutics and analytics businesses into two independent companies wholly owned by BioXcel, we believe that both Bioxcel Therapeutics, which we recently launched, and InveniAI are well equipped to unlock the full value-creation potential that their respective therapeutic and technological assets hold. I am confident that under the leadership of this team, InveniAI has a unique opportunity to make a profound impact on the pharmaceutical and biotech industries and, as a result, on the lives of patients.”

Rachel Flehinger

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