Sam Khalil, PhD

For drug discovery scientists, consultants and vendors … Announcing targeted high-impact initiatives at HitchhikersAI + a review paper describing the challenges in the adoption of AI & Data.  Initiatives: ✅ Find bite-size solutions for your scientific problems ✅ Build relationship opportunities with biotechs, by consultants partnering with vendors ✅ A market penetration app (LLM-driven), to help vendors diagnose why they are struggling and to make actionable suggestions ✅ Going from data to quality decisions, fast ✅ Helping scientists cost-effectively construct decisions from large sets of research papers For more info on the initiatives: https://lnkd.in/epDWQuB4 Call to Action: ❓ [SCIENTISTS] Do you have a scientific problem where you need a bite-size solution? We may be able to find something for you. All we need is for you to send us your scientific problem. ❓ [VENDORS & CONSULTANTS] Would any of the initiatives above help you engage with your customers faster? These initiatives come with the support of our Steering Committee and our friends at 20/15 Visioneers and Zifo RnD Solutions.  Together, we will leverage our networks to ensure that participating vendors & consultants are able to engage with and get feedback from scientists. Join Us [Nothing to sign, Nothing to pay]: HitchhikersAI is a grass-roots no-cost community, seeking to accelerate drug discovery and development with AI & Data.  Please join our initiatives and shape them to directly help your scientific and business needs. Contact me to get involved: [email protected] SLAS (Society for Laboratory Automation and Screening)  ELRIG UK  Drug Target Review  Drug Discovery World  Sanj Kumar  Lesley Granberg  Vicki Loise  Pistoia Alliance  Mary Geismann  Boston Cambridge Biotech Networks  San Diego Biotechnology Network  San Francisco Biotech Networks  myBIO Community - Biotechnology connections myBIO Community - Biotechnology connections cvijic boris  Jesse Johnson  Anne Carpenter  Abhishek Jha  Catarina (Katie) Campbell  John Overington  Becky Upton BioIndustry Association (BIA) John F. Conway Neil Wilkie Andreas Bender Janette Thomas Andre Franca, PhD Nina Truter Sujeegar Jeevanandam Eli Pollock Jamie Cartland Jorge Cortell Tim Jarrett Charles Sinclair Graham Combe Sitta Sittampalam Tony Sedgwick https://lnkd.in/eicivKZf

40

𝐀𝐥𝐦𝐨𝐬𝐭 𝐡𝐚𝐥𝐟 𝐨𝐟 𝐅𝐃𝐀-𝐚𝐩𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐯𝐞𝐝 𝐦𝐞𝐝𝐢𝐜𝐚𝐥 𝐝𝐞𝐯𝐢𝐜𝐞𝐬 𝐮𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐀𝐈 𝐡𝐚𝐯𝐞 𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐛𝐞𝐞𝐧 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐢𝐧𝐞𝐝 𝐰𝐢𝐭𝐡 𝐫𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐩𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐞𝐧𝐭 𝐝𝐚𝐭𝐚 It strikes me that this is a potentially serious patient safety issue. As one of the key authors (Chouffani El Fassi) of the new paper that reviewed clinical validation data for 500+ medical AI devices and reported on this states: "Although AI device manufacturers boast of the credibility of their technology with FDA authorization, clearance does not mean that the devices have been properly evaluated for clinical effectiveness using real patient data" Clinical validation can use up to three different methods by which researchers and device manufacturers validate the accuracy of their technologies: 1. Retrospective validation - feeding the #AI model image data from the past 2. Prospective validation - uses real-time data from patients 3. Randomised controlled trials - isolating the therapeutic effect of the AI-based solution If phantom or synthetic data was used then it calls into question how that was generated and indeed whether that was appropriate data with which to train/ test the AI solution. There are some serious questions raised here that the FDA needs to answer. A cautionary tale for the #MHRA indeed. #clinicalvalidation #innovation #digitalhealth #data #regulator #patientsafety Dr Mustafa Ghafouri Patient Safety Learning Keith Grimes Dr Annabelle Painter Caroline Chibelushi Dr. Keith Tsui Haris Shuaib 🚀 Manish Patel Mark Ratnarajah Hisham Haq Erwann Le Lannou Kanwal Bhatia Dr Avi Mehra Joe Fennell Nelson Jordan Dr Andrew Jones Dr Cos Fantis Dr Martin Slingsby Janine Jolly The paper published in Nature Medicine can be found here: https://lnkd.in/eEjhs6Pm With thanks to the The Medical Futurist for raising this in his newsletter.

37

10 Kommentarer

How to potentiate #drugdiscovery - Think Of Logica ! We are excited to announce that Lundbeck is using Logica’s AI-powered platform to advance research into central nervous system (CNS) disorders. “Partnering with Logica will allow us to use a unique tool set, including AI-driven approaches, to overcome drug design challenges which often slow down the translation of promising targets into drug candidates.” - Tarek Samad, Senior Vice President and Head of Global Research at Lundbeck. Explore how this partnership for good is set to break new ground in CNS drug discovery. https://okt.to/JjdPQw #AI #CNS #DrugDiscovery #Logica

10

An exciting partnership between Novartis and Deciphex has been disclosed, signalling a pivotal moment in preclinical research as AI continues to take centre stage! Novartis and Deciphex have aligned their efforts to spearhead AI-driven methodologies poised to redefine the drug discovery and development landscape. Together, they will craft AI tools to optimise pathology assessments in toxicological and efficacy studies. Fiona H. Marshall, President of Biomedical Research at Novartis, articulated the significance of this collaboration, emphasising the shared commitment to advancing healthcare through cutting-edge solutions. This partnership underscores their collective determination to surmount critical challenges in drug development lifecycles. This collaboration extends beyond innovation to encompass the digitisation of Novartis' extensive archive of tissue slides, leveraging Deciphex's impressive scanning services. This digital transformation promises to unlock unprecedented insights, empowering researchers to harness the power of data-driven decision-making. At Deciphex, founded in Ireland in 2017, the focus remains steadfast on driving efficiencies in pathology research and diagnostics. Investors have recognised the company's achievements and deployed US$33.4 million of capital. Seroba. led their latest series, the B1 round, and Act Venture Capital led the B round. The convergence of AI and biopharma heralds a new era in digital health innovation, poised to revolutionise drug R&D productivity. To delve deeper into this transformative trend, stakeholders are encouraged to explore Galen Growth | Insights You Can Trust's latest study, offering invaluable insights into the evolving landscape of digital health innovation. #AI #DrugDiscovery #DigitalHealth #partnerships

11

2 Kommentarer

A Psychological Insight with Practical Applications for CRO Outsourcing 🚇 Rory Sutherland shared a brilliant example from the London Underground: the single best improvement in passenger satisfaction didn’t come from adding more trains or changing the frequency. Instead, they installed dot matrix display boards on platforms. https://lnkd.in/dqR9V6R7 Why was this so effective? Because the wait isn't just about its duration — it's about certainty. Waiting seven minutes with a countdown clock is far less frustrating than waiting four minutes with no information at all. This same principle applies perfectly to CRO outsourcing, where delivery is driven by science and complex timelines. In my opinion, the best way to improve the CRO experience is by enhancing communication transparency: What’s your experience and expectations with improving CRO relationships through better communication? #Psychology #CROOutsourcing #ClinicalResearch #Communication #ProjectManagement #CustomerExperience #Leadership

15

Nvidia overtaking Microsoft as the world's most valuable company is super interesting for pharma/biotech. Obviously market valuations can fluctuate, but Nvidia's rise highlights the increasing importance of not just AI but also high-performance computing and specialised computing in driving innovation. A few areas that I think are worth paying close attention to. A lot of this came to light last week at the Festival of Genomics and Biodata in Boston where we had a such a wide range of start-ups and experts presenting and exhibiting. - AI and HPC in drug discovery - Nvidia and similar tech companies investing in early stage therapeutic companies - Demand for open collaboration with a wider biotech ecosystem - Reliance on skills in computational biology and bioinformatics Read more on the valuation here on BBC https://lnkd.in/ea9DQkTx #biodata #FOGBoston

8

2 Kommentarer

At his keynote speech at BioTechX Europe, Pratap Khedkar talked about 3 hurdles to overcome to bridge the gap in between “lab to life”: - Ground breaking innovation with significant complexity (e.g, CART therapies) - Misaligned incentives (e.g, researchers by scientific impact vs clinical development by CT success vs. share growth for the commercial vs. physicians by their productivity and so on) - Trust and adoption (e.g, deep skepticism in healthcare - deeper in scientific community which is healthy at times) Is there hope? And he thinks YES And he has 3 ideas to share - - Need to think beyond the asset (e.g., Tesla’s success isn’t the car but it is the infrastructure / ecosystem build) - Pre-competitiveness in data and competitiveness in research - we need to collect and connect the data - (“One teaspoon of honey entire lifetime work of 12 bees w/ 170k flowers” - Fix the incentives by putting life / patient in the middle of everything - “it is far more important to know what person the disease has than what disease the person has” Inspiring….

86

Just wrapped up ISPOR Europe… It’s always great to connect with peers and colleagues. Here are my key takeaways from the conference: → The spotlight was on the new HTAR Joint Scientific Assessment process, and a few points stood out:  → While the pan-European body claims readiness, some variability remains in country-level readiness, and delays may occur as processes align.  → There’s no alignment on how differences in perspectives will be addressed—some early preparedness exercises by industry leaders estimated over 25 different versions of PICOs based on national guidelines for a single therapeutic area.  → The role of PROs is expected to expand with joint clinical assessments. However, the specifics remain uncertain, particularly in terms of patient engagement. While some successful examples have been shared, the practical implementation is yet to take a concrete shape.  → On the industry side, HEOR and PCOA teams continue facing a trend of frequent reorganizations that seem less than optimal. Interestingly, these shifts often stem from consulting firms advising changes without in-depth understanding of HEOR or PRO. Would love to hear your thoughts—did you attend ISPOR Europe? What were your key takeaways? #ISPOREurope #HEOR #PRO #PatientEngagement #HTAR #HealthOutcomes #ValueInHealthcare #JointClinicalAssessments #HealthEconomics #HealthcareInnovation #RealWorldEvidence

21

2 Kommentarer

The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry awarded David Baker “for computational protein design” and Demis Hassabis and John Jumper “for protein structure prediction” through their groundbreaking AlphaFold2 AI model. These discoveries are nothing short of revolutionary in biology and medicine. At QRGenetics, this breakthrough is the very foundation of our work!!!. By using computational models to predict and design drugs, we can tackle some of the world’s rarest genetic diseases, solve complex cases, and offer new hope to millions of people who currently have no drug solutions available for their conditions. 🌍 Let’s continue innovating, researching, and using these powerful tools to change lives! #NobelPrize #AlphaFold #ProteinDesign #AIinHealthcare #GeneticDiseases #DrugDiscovery #LifeChangingScience

26

🚀 Partnerships of the week: 1️⃣ Iambic Therapeutics x Lundbeck In a powerful collaboration, Iambic Therapeutics and Lundbeck have teamed up to leverage AI for drug discovery, specifically targeting brain diseases. This partnership aims to combine cutting-edge artificial intelligence with deep scientific expertise to accelerate the development of novel therapeutics for neurological disorders. 👉 Learn more: Link in comments 2️⃣ Evotec x Novo Nordisk Evotec and Novo Nordisk are entering a technology development partnership focused on stem cell-based therapies. Together, they aim to create off-the-shelf cell therapy products for clinical and commercial use, with the goal of advancing breakthrough therapies in regenerative medicine. 👉 Learn more: Link in comments #biotech #pharma #drugdiscovery #AI #stemcelltherapy #innovation #collaboration

31

3 Kommentarer

AlphaFold is an advanced AI system that can predict the 3D structure of a protein in minutes, not years. Parkinson's, malaria, plastics in the ocean—these are all protein-related problems. Our database is freely available and includes over 200 million known proteins, all of the ones known to humankind. Today, 2.2 million researchers across 190 countries are using AlphaFold to make advancements in drug discovery, food security, curing neglected diseases, and more. You can learn more about AlphaFold and its impact here: https://lnkd.in/eMF95jmU

15

1 Kommentar

Ian Wilkinson, Infotaining post, as always! I applaud this brilliant, young team and their hard work in achieving binders whose affinity rivals the antibody outputs from established immunization and display technologies. Importantly, they reported early developability metrics (yield, monomericity, polyspecificity, and in silico humanness). The seemingly magical advancement in specific binding combines their Joint Atomic Modeling (JAM) with an iterative Agentive-like approach previously demonstrated in LLM to blow away "zero-shot" answers. (See Prof. Andrew Ng presentations for helpful background). Early AI/ML antibody affinity demonstrations by un-named companies improved affinity while losing specificity and incurring high levels of non-human amino acid substitutions. Nabla Bio has made impressive advancements; however, they face the challenge of enhancing the humanness of their variants to match the quality of solutions derived from highly refined human-like phage libraries and humanized rodent models. Pro-tip for Surge Biswas and team, drop the error-prone mutagenesis (generally decreases drug-like properties), and focus on human framework-specific diversity to train your amazing ML Terminator. Keep going for it! For more, please reach out.

6

Discover how top companies like Netflix, L'OREAL, and The New York Times are using AI tools to transform their sales and marketing strategies! 🚀 Our latest video explores real-life success stories, revealing how AI helps: - Personalize recommendations to boost engagement - Optimize advertising for better ROI - Enhance customer experiences - Streamline operations for efficiency Gain valuable insights and practical tips on leveraging AI to drive business growth. Watch now to learn from industry leaders and see how AI can revolutionize your marketing and sales efforts: https://lnkd.in/eR7vK6Mg Don't forget to like, share, and subscribe for more insights on the latest tech trends and business strategies! #AIinMarketing #SalesTech #DigitalTransformation #MarketingInnovation

5

4 Kommentarer

Congratulations to Israeli Digital Health venture Nucleai for their remarkable achievement in raising $14 million in funding, led by Merck Group’s VC arm, M Ventures 🎉 Nucleai's groundbreaking work in leveraging AI and machine learning to analyse pathology images and spatial data at cellular and tissue levels. Their proprietary technology extracts detailed patterns and features from medical images, providing invaluable insights into the tumour microenvironment, cellular morphology, and spatial relationships between different cell types. This round, led by M Ventures, and support by existing investors, brings Nucleai's total funding to an impressive $60 million. Notable backers include S32, Sanofi Ventures, Debiopharm, 复星锐正资本 FOSUN RZ Capital , Vertex Ventures Israel, and Grove Ventures. With this new funding, Nucleai plans to deploy its AI algorithms for the prospective enrollment of patients in clinical trials—a pioneering move in personalized healthcare solutions tailored to each patient's unique needs. Founded in 2018, Nucleai is spearheaded by Avi Veidman, Eliron Amir, Lotan Chorev, and Albert Achtenberg. They bring expertise from their tenure managing the AI computer vision department in the Israeli military’s Intelligence Corps. This achievement underscores Israel's prowess in driving innovation at the intersection of technology and healthcare. 🌟 #DigitalHealth #Israel #fundingnews

31

1 Kommentar

Pharma/Biotech Roundup 🔃 Lundbeck: Set to acquire Longboard Pharmaceuticals for $2.6 Billion in a strategic deal to strengthen their neuroscience pipeline Upstream Bio: Raises $255 Million through its IPO with an initial focus to fund the development of severe respiratory disorders City Therapeutics: Raises $135 Million in funding to enhance the development of cutting-edge RNAi therapies Pfizer: Receives $1 Billion investment from Starboard Value, an investment adviser with a focused and fundamental approach to investing in publicly traded companies Judo Bio: Debuts with $100 Million to work on RNA-based treatments that target the kidneys using ligand-RNA conjugates Sanofi: Holding discussions with CD&R about selling a 50% controlling stake in its consumer healthcare business, Opella Gritstone bio: Filed a voluntary petition under Chapter 11 of the US Bankruptcy Code to preserve value and support its strategic alternatives process AstraZeneca: Signs an exclusive license agreement with CSPC Pharmaceutical Group to enhance the development of experimental cholesterol treatment for up to $1.92 Billion Turnstone Biologics: Reducing their workforce by 60% to prioritize the advancement of its Phase 1 program, TIDAL-01, a move aimed at extending its financial resources

20

🗞️ Color is using OpenAI's GPT-4o to revolutionise cancer care! Their are rolling out (yet another) copilot application to merge patient data with clinical insights, creating personalized treatment plans and accelerating diagnosis. The results so far? 📌 Identify 4x more missing labs, imaging, or biopsy and pathology results than those without the copilot. 📌 Average 5 minutes for clinicians to analyze patient records and identify gaps. Without the copilot, data is fragmented and can lead to weeks of delay. 🔮 Target the second half of 2024 to get the copilot to provide AI-generated personalised care plans, with physician oversight, for over 200,000 patients. Follow for more daily insights of #AI in #lifescience

7

A key benefit of causal ML is that it allows for estimating individualized treatment effects, so that clinical decision-making can be personalized to individual patient profiles.

2