Arctoris & Syntekabio Form Drug Discovery Research Partnership

Arctoris has recently signed a Memorandum of Understanding with listed Korean company Syntekabio, Inc. to collaborate on drug discovery efforts. The first project under the agreement sees the two companies work together to assess small molecule therapeutics for COVID-19.

The MoU brings together two highly complementary technologies: Syntekabio is a leading AI-driven drug discovery company that uses machine learning and supercomputing to discover new drugs, and Arctoris is a British technology company that has developed a fully automated drug discovery platform enabling rapid generation of high-quality drug discovery data. Syntekabio will use Arctoris’ unique technology platform for biochemical and cell-based experiments including target-based assays and viability assessments.

Access to the Arctoris platform enables the company’s clients and partners to conduct their drug discovery processes in full automation. Available services include data-set generation for AI model training and validation, hit-to-lead, lead optimization and candidate selection.

Under the terms of the MoU, Syntekabio and Arctoris work together to identify and screen a series of potential candidate molecules for COVID-19 treatment, not only saving development time, but also ensuring a greater degree of confidence in the experimental results.

Martin-Immanuel Bittner, MD, DPhil, CEO of Arctoris, said “This partnership highlights the utility and capability of the Arctoris approach to drug discovery. Thanks to our robotic technology platform, we can significantly accelerate the identification of candidates for COVID-19 treatment. By combining the novel technologies developed by Arctoris and Syntekabio, we aim to develop potential new treatments faster – for COVID-19 and beyond.”

Sunil Youn, MD, Director of Business Development of Syntekabio, added “Syntekabio is a leader in AI-driven drug discovery. We are pleased to collaborate with Arctoris, enabling us to rapidly validate our in silico predictions. Together, we can reach the next drug discovery milestones faster.”

The MoU with Syntekabio is the latest in a series of partnerships formed by Arctoris this year, which includes publicly announced partnerships with Insilico Medicine and Molecule.

Arctoris Ltd is an Oxford-based research company that is revolutionizing drug discovery for virtual and traditional biotechnology companies, pharmaceutical corporations, and academia. Arctoris has established the world’s first fully automated drug discovery platform, offering pre-optimized and fully validated processes for its partners and customers globally. Accessible remotely, the platform provides on-demand access to a wide range of biochemical, cell biology, and molecular biology assays conducted by robotics, enabling rapid, informed decision-making in basic biology, target validation, toxicology, and phenotypic screening. These assay capabilities are accessed using a powerful online portal that streamlines experiment planning, ordering, tracking and data analysis. Thanks to the Arctoris platform, clients can rapidly, accurately, and cost-effectively perform their research and advance their drug discovery programs. For more information, visit https://www.arctoris.com.

Syntekabio, Inc. is an AI and NGS-based drug development company, utilizing a genomic database and artificial intelligence to predict and identify new molecular entities to be a relevant new drug product. It is the global first AI drug development company listed on the public market (KOSDAQ: 226330) in December 2019. The company’s lead product candidate, STB-C017, an IDO/TDO dual inhibitor for the treatment of advanced solid tumors, is in preclinical development. The company’s subsequent pipelines include personalized neoantigen cancer vaccines, small molecules targeting established oncology targets, and biomarkers to stratify relevant patients to maximize treatment efficacy. Syntekabio’s business model is to collaborate with various academic institutions and biopharma companies to optimize development process, utilizing proprietary AI and NGS data. The company is headquartered in Daejeon, Rep. of Korea, with offices in Seoul, Rep. of Korea and Rockville, MD. For more information, visit http://www.syntekabio.com/.