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Deep learning platform evaluates drug activity in tumor microenvironments of patients with single cell dissolution
First clinically validated AI platform to improve treatment outcomes in a prospective study
OXFORD, England – (BUSINESS WIRE) – Exscientia, a pharmatech company in clinical phase, has signed a binding agreement to acquire Allcyte, a leading provider of artificial intelligence (AI) -based precision medicine. The combination expands the translational capabilities of Exscientia by enabling a high level evaluation of individual patient biology in primary tumor tissues instead of artificial cell lines or animal models. Allcyte’s platform has been validated on several solid and hematological tumor types, as well as non-cancerous tissues.
Allcyte pioneered a platform capable of anticipating the effectiveness of cancer treatments in the clinic by using AI to analyze drug activity in living patient samples with single cell dissolution. In the very first1 prospective interventional study of its kind, EXALT-1, Allcyte’s approach predicted which therapy would be most effective in late-stage hematologic cancer patients based on drug activity in their own tissue samples. EXALT-1 demonstrated the practicality of patient selection offered by the Allcyte platform by achieving an overall response rate of 55% and a statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival over the previous line of therapy. In a post-hoc analysis, patients who received a therapy recommended by the platform showed significantly improved outcomes compared to their previous treatments (clinical benefit-risk ratio of 0.53; p = 0.005), while patients received the other Treatments received than those recommended by the platform showed poorer results (clinical benefit-risk ratio of 1.4; p = 0.4) 2.
By joining Exscientia, Allcyte’s platform will be significantly expanded and expanded to include early discovery, applying these breakthrough technologies from targeting and drug optimization to patient selection. This end-to-end approach will allow research projects to be assessed in a biological setting that more closely reflects the actual patient environment, thereby improving laboratory-to-clinic transmission.
“Allcyte has the ability to show which therapy is actually working for each patient with the most disease-relevant screening platform we’ve ever seen,” said Andrew Hopkins, CEO of Exscientia. “The combination of Allcyte’s platform with Exscientia’s technologies can redefine drug development and enable integrated discovery and patient selection. Allcyte put together an outstanding team in Vienna and the integration of the two platforms really enables us to realize our vision of patient-oriented AI. “
Nikolaus Krall, CEO of Allcyte, commented on the acquisition: “We are incredibly excited about the opportunity to use this technology immediately in a variety of drug discovery projects at Exscientia. This will also give our team the opportunity to expand our operations much faster to provide important personalized precision drugs to as many patients as possible. “
The transaction is currently being examined prior to closing as part of the usual Austrian regulatory process. Under the terms of the merger agreement, Exscientia will pay € 50 million consisting of cash and Exscientia common stock. Exscientia plans to develop the Vienna location as a hub in the European Union.
About Exscientia
Exscientia is an AI-powered pharmatech company dedicated to discovering and developing the best possible medicines in the fastest, most effective way possible. Exscientia is the first to bring AI-engineered small molecules to the clinical arena, repeatedly demonstrating AI’s ability to transform the way drugs are made. Exscientia’s AI platform has now developed three drugs that are in Phase 1 clinical trials in humans.
Active ingredient design is precision engineering at the molecular level. Exscientia has developed dedicated AI systems that learn efficiently from the broadest spectrum of data and consistently reapply improved knowledge through design iterations. Because Exscientia’s AI platform learns more effectively and faster than human-led efforts alone, candidate molecules that meet complex therapeutic needs are manufactured with revolutionary efficiency. Exscientia believes that the faster development of better medicines will allow the best ideas in science to quickly become the best medicines for patients.
Exscientia has offices in Oxford, Miami, Osaka and Dundee. For more information, visit us at www.exscientia.ai or follow us on Twitter @exscientiaAI.
About Allcyte
Allcyte is a Vienna-based precision medicine company whose mission is to ensure that every cancer patient receives the best possible care. Allcyte technology is designed to select the most promising drug candidates for clinical development in the right patient populations to maximize clinical trial success rates and patient benefit. Clinically, Allcyte’s goal is to provide physicians with actionable insights into treating cancer patients with the right drug at the right time in situations where classical precision genetic medicine does not provide precise answers. It does this by measuring anticancer drug functional activity in viable, primary human patient tissue with single cell dissolution to provide a preview of likely clinical efficacy. Allcyte’s technology is the first AI platform to successfully improve cancer patient outcomes in a clinical trial.
For more information on the EXALT-1 study, see
[1] the following Lancet Hematology article; https://www.thelancet.com/journals/lanhae/article/PIIS2352-3026(17)30208-9/fulltext
[2] the following ASH summary; https://ash.confex.com/ash/2020/webprogram/Paper140831.html
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