Scipher Applies Spectra™ Platform to Discover Drugs Targeting Autoimmune Patients Refractory to Existing Therapies

Scipher Medicine, a precision immunology company matching patients with the most effective therapy, today announced the launch of Scipher Therapeutics, focused on discovering new targets and drugs for patients not responding to approved therapies in the market.

Scipher Medicine is leveraging its proprietary Spectra™ platform and rich clinico-genomic data from its molecular diagnostic testing business, to develop new-in-class precision therapeutics in autoimmune diseases targeting specific patient populations with high response rates. Biopharma industry veteran, CTO and Head of Therapeutics at Scipher Medicine, Slava Akmaev, Ph.D., has been appointed to lead the new program.

“Our breakthrough approach combines extensive patient-level molecular data and our proprietary Spectra platform, powered by the state-of-the-art AI algorithms,” said Akmaev, “Our methodology was developed to explain the complex biology of autoimmune diseases and is ideal for discovering novel therapeutic targets with the potential to treat patient subpopulations, including those not responding to currently available therapies.”

Autoimmune diseases are marred with low drug response rates, mainly due to an inability to understand patient disease biology. For example, the response rate for the largest selling drug class in the world, TNFi therapy, is below 40%. Spectra has already been applied to successfully develop blood-based biomarkers to predict response in patients to approved anti-TNF drugs in autoimmune diseases. Scipher is now deploying the platform to discover novel therapies targeting specific cohort of patients that can be identified through similar biomarkers. 

“We have seen in oncology how precision medicine has transformed drug discovery and made the development process faster, more cost-effective, and predictable to the benefit of patients,” said Alif Saleh, CEO of Scipher Medicine. “Spectra brings the same capabilities to autoimmune diseases which have eluded the industry for decades.”

“In an industry seeking novel targets for underserved patients, Scipher’s AI platform stands out as one that repeatedly works,” said John Baldoni, Ph.D., Advisor to Scipher Therapeutics and former SVP of Platform Technology and Science at GSK.  "Its proven ability to discover drug targets specific to individual patients makes it unique in the industry.”

Scipher Medicine’s recent partnership with Galapagos to develop a suite of novel drug targets discovered by Spectra is the first of many pharma and biotech partnerships to be rolled out near term.

About Spectra™

A platform deciphering the complexity of disease by analyzing large patient molecular datasets through the unique lens of the human interactome and AI. Built upon over a decade of experimental research, the platform’s backbone is the network map of human biology explaining how proteins expressed from the human genome interact to cause specific disease phenotypes, providing the wiring diagram needed to interpret dynamic individual patient molecular data to reveal actual disease biology. Spectra™ is not a model but a disease representation rooted in experimental human biology, allowing us to identify a patient’s unique disease signature, predict drug response to approved drugs and identify novel drug targets in patients not responding to existing therapies.

About Scipher Medicine

Scipher Medicine, a precision immunology company, holds the fundamental belief that patients deserve simple answers to treatment options based on scientifically backed data. Leveraging our proprietary Spectra™ platform, we commercialize blood tests revealing a persons’ unique molecular disease signature and match such signature to the most effective therapy, ensuring optimal treatment from day one. The unprecedented amount of patient molecular data generated from our tests further drives the discovery and development of novel and more effective therapeutics. We partner with payers, providers, and pharma along the health care value chain to bring precision medicine to autoimmune diseases. Follow Scipher on Twitter, Facebook, and LinkedIn.