Exscientia plc (Nasdaq: EXAI) today announced the expansion of its platform to include biologics development, e.g. B. of human antibodies. During the year, the company further developed its AI-supported capabilities for the virtual development of biologics and is now building an automated biologics laboratory in Oxford, England, in which new antibodies will be developed and profiled in-house.
“Exscientia integrates biologics development into the modular architecture of our end-to-end, patient-centric AI platform. Having demonstrated the ability of our existing precision medicine patient tissue models to analyze novel antibodies, we are confident that with these new biologics development capabilities will create one of the most powerful antibody platforms available,” said Professor Andrew Hopkins, Exscientia’s Founder and Chief Executive Officer. “Our balanced business model will allow us to advance our pipeline programs and invest in platform growth. Expanding into biologics allows us to nearly double the target universe available for our platform. Over the past two years, antibodies made up 18 of the top 50 drugs With the ability to develop new human antibodies using AI and automation, we believe we will be able to develop the most effective drug for each patient, regardless of the modality.”
Current antibody optimization strategies, including those using machine learning, still rely on antibody discovery through experimental screening methods. The combination of generative AI development and virtual screening of biologics would enable the study of a broader spectrum of antibodies and support Exscientia’s goal of phasing out all of its biologics by de novoDevelop methods for specific target epitopes without the need for screening.
In order to develop novel antibodies against specific protein epitopes, precise models of their structure must be created quickly and on a large scale. Initial versions of the technology invented by Prof. Charlotte Deane (Exscientia’s Chief Scientist of Biologics AI) enabled precise protein modeling up to 35,000 times faster than Alphafold2 (Abanades et al., Bioinformatics 2021). Exscientia has significantly increased the scope, speed, and integration of these algorithms while integrating capabilities into its broader platform. Exscientia’s virtual antibody screening method is now more than three times more accurate than the prior art.
Key to Exscientia’s AI strategy is the use of knowledge of the observed human antibody range to optimize biologics for clinical development. The binding site of the antibody consists of two chains (heavy and light). Normally, the sequencing of antibodies is limited to single chains, which means that the actual biological properties of the antibodies are lost. The company is building a proprietary database of paired chain sequences to better understand the complex biology of antibodies in a more natural environment. Exscientia uses this data for machine learning to more accurately describe and model the human antibody domain.
Exscientia’s new labs, which add approximately 8,000 square feet (745 square meters) to the company’s Oxford Science Park headquarters, will automate the generation of proprietary data for each antibody. Essential properties such as affinity, immunogenicity, aggregation and stability are measured. Exscientia engineers are developing proprietary automation hardware that enables high-throughput antibody profiling and supports the creation of predictive models for multi-parameter optimization.
“Our strategy is to replace current experimental development methods with those created with precision technology de novo-development of optimized, fully human biologics,” says Prof. Charlotte Deane MBE. “Current methods limit the discovery of new binding sites to what can be explored through animal immunization or laboratory-based libraries. By covering virtually every aspect of a biologic in silicoi.e. on the computer, virtually, we can research a much broader target universe and develop more targeted therapeutics: Biologics through development, not through discovery, supported by AI and automated experiments, that is our strategy.”
About Exscientia
Exscientia is a pharmaceutical technology company dedicated to discovering, designing and developing the best possible medicines in the fastest and most effective way using AI. Exscientia has developed the first functional precision oncology platform that successfully guides treatment choices and improves patient outcomes in a prospective clinical intervention study. She is also advancing small molecule compounds developed with the help of AI to clinical development. Our internal pipeline is focused on leveraging our precision medicine platform in oncology, while our partnered pipeline is expanding our approach to other therapeutic areas. We believe that with our new approach to creating medicines, the best ideas in science can be quickly translated into the best medicines for patients.
Exscientia is headquartered in Oxford (UK) and has offices in Vienna (Austria), Dundee (UK), Boston (Massachussetts, USA), Miami (Florida, USA), Cambridge (UK) and Osaka (Japan).
For more information, visit https://www.exscientia.ai or follow us on Twitter @exscientiaAI.
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of the “safe harbor” provisions of the U.S. Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995, including statements related to Exscientia’s expectations regarding progress in the development of molecule candidates, timing and advances, and dates from pre-clinical and clinical studies of Exscientia’s product candidates, Exscientia’s ability to generate new knowledge about antibody development and to develop hardware and other systems to support high-throughput biological profiling, and Exscientia’s expectations regarding the expansion of its precision medicine platform and its AI-driven drug development platform. Words such as “assume”, “believe”, “expect”, “intend”, “anticipate”, “anticipate” and “future” or similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. These forward-looking statements are subject to the uncertainties inherent in predicting future results and conditions, including the scope, progress and expansion of Exscientia’s product development efforts, the initiation, scope and progress of Exscientia’s and its partners’ clinical trials and the associated impact on costs, clinical , scientific, regulatory and technical developments and uncertainties associated with the process of discovering, developing and commercializing product candidates that are safe and effective for use as therapies for humans and in connection with establishing the business related to such product candidates. Exscientia undertakes no obligation to publicly update or revise any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except as required by law.
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