The future is now? Nuritas secures US$34m to accelerate healthcare solutions from AI and DNA analysis

03 Dec 2018 --- Irish biotech company Nuritas has secured a US$34m investment from the European Investment Bank (EIB) to increase and accelerate the development of artificial intelligence (AI) and DNA analysis to improve global healthcare. The investment follows Nuritas’ launch of PeptAIde earlier this year, in cooperation with BASF, which demonstrated how AI can accelerate the discovery of healthcare products. Future investment from EIB is to scale up development of new therapeutics in areas of interest including anti-aging, anti-inflammatory and diabetes treatment.

“Nuritas has already demonstrated through PeptAIde, their first product launch this year, how the discovery of healthcare products can be rapidly accelerated using artificial intelligence. During due diligence over recent months, the EIB has been impressed by their innovative use of technology and the number of global deals already achieved and they now become the first Irish biotech firm to benefit from the EIB’s dedicated European Growth Finance Facility,” says Andrew McDowell, EIB Vice President.

“Our goal is to find innovative and fast-growing companies so that we ensure they can benefit from access to long-term financing under the new initiative and Nuritas fits this bill perfectly. We look forward to working with other innovative and fast-growing companies to ensure they can benefit from access to long-term financing under the new initiative. This new 30 million euro support from the European Investment Bank will enable Nuritas to expand and commercialize even faster,” he adds.

Since starting operation in 2014, Nuritas has developed proprietary AI and DNA analysis to enhance the accurate analysis of molecules and peptides in food. The new technology is significantly faster with unparalleled accuracy compared to traditional methods of discovery, according to Nuritas.

The CEO of Nuritas, Emmet Browne, notes that the company is Ireland’s first biotech company to benefit from EIB investment, “which really delivers a potent signal of the regions desire to drive truly disruptive innovation.”

At the forefront of the AI and health intersection
Nuritas’ PeptAIde was launched last month, in collaboration with BASF, as a sports nutrition ingredient containing a unique set of plant-based peptides identified using AI, for regulating inflammation.

With industrial-scale production in Germany, PeptAIde is now available in the US, while commercialization is set to follow in the Asia Pacific and Europe by 2019. BASF was also seeking regulatory clearance to allow access to other key markets.

“Our research has shown that consumers today are seeking innovative, plant-based solutions to help them better manage sports-related inflammation,” says Tina Low, Vice President, Business Management BASF Human Nutrition. “PeptAIde’s unique properties will resonate very well with active consumers and enable our customers to take sports nutrition to the next level.”

The health and nutrition industry is increasingly looking toward technology to accelerate the discovery of health and nutrition solutions. Another example in this realm would be the recent acquisition by Medtronic, a provider of medical technology, of Nutrino Health, a provider of nutrition-related data services, analytics and technologies.

This acquisition seeks to boost diabetes management techniques and the companies reportedly see an opportunity to improve clinical outcomes for people with diabetes by integrating Nutrino's extensive food analysis infrastructure, nutrition science expertise and AI-driven personalized insights with Medtronic's technology and future innovations.