AI for peptides: Pepticom lands US$5m investment to speed up pharmaceutical tech

25 Oct 2019 --- Start-up Pepticom, which uses artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate peptide drug discovery, has secured US$5 million in Series A funding from the Chartered Group. The investment will facilitate the development of new AI models to further increase molecular discovery efficacy, while reducing the risk for the next stages of development. As well as being used in agriculture, the technology can help address problems ranging from metabolic and autoimmune disease to oncology.

“The funding will allow us to further develop the platform and to incorporate AI models to de-risk the process of future drug development. These models can assess important drug properties and provide warnings regarding certain candidates’ problematic properties,” Maayan Elias Robicsek, BDO and Research Associate at Pepticom, tells NutritionInsight.

Pepticom’s AI technology streamlines and significantly accelerates the ability of researchers to discover advanced peptide-based drug candidates. It covers chemical-space of 1030 possible molecular options, which is much larger than current screening techniques. AI also simultaneously filters out the most suitable candidates with properties such as solubility and permeability, among others. The company says the technology brings down the cost of drug discovery in a quick and comprehensive manner.

“This investment by Chartered Group signals confidence in Pepticom’s technology and abilities going forward,” says Immanuel Lerner, Founder and CEO of Pepticom. “Pepticom already improves discovery time by almost a year, and this investment will further reduce that time and thus improve time to market considerably.”

Peptide drugs are small proteins composed of amino acids, both natural and non-natural.Chartered Group has previously invested in promising Israeli deep tech companies and has broad networks in Europe, East Asia and Japan. “We made this investment out of our belief in Pepticom’s application of AI in peptide drug discovery and the Israeli high-tech industry,” says Eyal Agmoni, Chairman of Chartered Group and High Tech division. “Pepticom’s AI platform allows for multifaceted collaborations. The funding will enable the further development of the technology and specific applications.”

Peptide potential
Peptide drugs are small proteins composed of amino acids, both natural and non-natural. They are used in various therapies and are recognized for being highly selective and efficacious, as well as being relatively safe. Peptides could also hold the potential for cures to a variety of diseases that cannot be addressed by regular molecules.

As the process of discovering new peptides has historically been costly and time-consuming, Pepticom’s ability to search a large number of variables is highly useful, especially while considering their pharmacological impact and also eliminating nonviable molecules at an early stage. 

“The peptide chemical space is huge, meaning the number of possible solutions is enormous. Current Display (mRNA, Phage) techniques are able to cover 10 to the power of 9-13 of the possible solution space, thus leaving many potential drugs undiscovered. Pepticom’s computational technology is able to cover 10 to the power of 30 possible solutions in a cost-effective manner,” explains Robicsek.

The platform combines several algorithms with force field chemistry and molecular mechanics in a reinforcement learning methodology to search the space and identify the best peptide drug candidates for a certain issue. “In terms of supplements, we understand that it is possible to employ AI techniques to identify natural peptides that are able to modulate a certain pharmacology. We are not aware of the regulatory demands in the field, thus it is difficult to truly assess its applicability in the field,” adds Robicsek.

The peptide space is seeing mounting activity, with a Rousselot-endorsed study finding that collagen peptides can improve overall bone health by simultaneously targeting bone formation and bone resorption. Meanwhile, Irish biotech company Nuritas is also using AI to examine peptides. Earlier this year, it entered into a partnership with Stonehaven Incubate to discover and develop advanced animal health solutions. 

Robicsek explains that while Nuritas is applying different AI methodologies and is able to discover peptides from natural sources, Pepticom is discovering peptides from scratch. “We are not searching databases or genomes to identify active peptides. We tailor the solution to each problem by analyzing the 3D surface of the target and thus apply our technology,” he concludes. 

By Katherine Durrell