InveniAI Announces Successful Completion of Milestone in its Collaboration with PRISM BioLab Focused on Designing Novel Inflammasome-Targeted Therapeutic Candidates

InveniAI® LLC (InveniAI), a global leader in applying artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to transform drug discovery and development, today announced the successful completion of the first milestone in its collaboration with PRISM BioLab Co. Ltd, (PRISM), a biotechnology company with proprietary small-molecule drug discovery technology. This milestone marks completion of the identification and validation of a small molecule drug candidate against PYCARD, also known as ASC (apoptosis-associated speck-like protein containing CARD), an adaptor protein playing a key role in innate immunity and inflammatory response, and identified by InveniAI as a potential target in the treatment of chronic inflammatory and autoimmune gastrointestinal (GI) disorders.

Initiated in September 2020, the collaboration leverages InveniAI's AI-based platform AlphaMeld® with PRISM's proprietary chemistry-platform to expedite the identification of drug candidates efficiently, at scale, and with an enhanced probability of clinical success. The first program to be prioritized for progressing into IND enabling studies is INVA8003, a first-in-class pan-inflammasome inhibitor. A key event in the innate immune response is formation of the inflammasome, a multi-protein complex where PYCARD is a pivotal component. Activation of the inflammasome is implicated in various inflammatory and autoimmune diseases. Inhibition of PYCARD by INVA8003 disrupts the inflammasome assembly, potentially resulting in a strong anti-inflammatory activity across chronic inflammatory and autoimmune disorders that affect the Gut as well as other tissues and organs. Under the terms of the collaboration, PRISM will receive an undisclosed milestone payment from InveniAI.

InveniAI's CSO, Salvatore Alesci, M.D., Ph.D., said, "This important milestone illustrates the continued productivity of our Company's collaborative culture and discovery efforts across multiple therapeutic modalities. We are encouraged to see our AI-powered pipeline yield novel drug candidates for highly debilitating disorders with great unmet needs, such as Ulcerative Colitis (UC) and Irritable Bowel Syndrome (IBS). Together with our more advanced INVA8001 and INVA8002 programs, INVA8003’s pan-inflammasome activity will enable us to target a broad range of GI and other chronic inflammatory diseases impacted by the gut-brain axis.”

"We are pleased with the rapid completion of the first milestone of our collaboration. The goal of leveraging our combined platforms was to create a paradigm shift in the approach to drug discovery and development. This outcome is a reflection of how the combination of an AI-powered discovery engine and our peptidomimetic technology platform can be readily used to develop small-molecule therapeutics against high impact targets," said Dai Takehara, President, and CEO, PRISM BioLab.

About PRISM BioLab

PRISM BioLab Co., Ltd., based in Japan, is a biotechnology company with proprietary small molecule drug discovery platform “PepMetics™ Technology”. The PepMetics™ Molecules are designed to mimic α-helix or β-turn peptide using a unique stable scaffold with corresponding dihedral angles. These motifs are essential for protein-protein interactions within the cell, especially related to transcription and translation. Using our small molecule drug discovery technology, two clinical-stage assets for cancer and fibrosis have been developed and licensed. Many early lead molecules have also been created for novel or previously undruggable targets. 

About InveniAI®

InveniAI® LLC, based in Guilford, Conn., is a global leader pioneering the application of Artificial Intelligence (AI) and Machine Learning (ML) to transform innovation across drug discovery and development by identifying and accelerating transformative therapies for diseases with unmet medical needs. The Company leverages, AlphaMeld®, an AI- and ML-powered platform, to harness petabytes of disparate data sets to recognize and unlock value for drug discovery and development. Numerous industry collaborations in Big Pharma, Specialty Pharma, Biotech, and Consumer Healthcare showcase the value of leveraging our technology to meld human experience and expertise with the power of machines to augment R&D d