Genome & Company (314130.KQ) is joining global pharmaceutical company Eli Lilly's artificial intelligence-based drug discovery platform.
The company said on the 20th that it will participate in Lilly TuneLab, Eli Lilly's AI-powered drug discovery platform. Genome & Company plans to use TuneLab's AI prediction models to screen promising drug candidates more quickly in the early stages of development, cutting the experiments and costs spent on compounds with low chances of success.
In particular, the company will combine the target discovery capabilities of GNOCLE, its proprietary genomic analysis-based platform for identifying novel targets, with TuneLab's candidate prediction and evaluation functions. The aim is to streamline the process spanning target discovery, candidate optimization and preclinical development.
An official at Genome & Company said that in the past, the company had to build numerous drug candidates itself after identifying a new target and run repeated experiments to select compounds with strong pharmacokinetics (PK) and safety profiles and a high likelihood of development. "Through Lilly TuneLab, we will shorten research and development timelines for new pipelines and improve the efficiency of resource allocation," the official said.
Genome & Company uses GNOCLE to identify new targets based on clinical data and is developing antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) and small-molecule drug pipelines aimed at them. Its main pipelines include GENA-104 ADC, an ADC targeting CNTN4; GENA-120, an ADC targeting ITGB4; GENB-120, a bispecific antibody ADC targeting both ITGB4 and TROP2; and GENC-116, a small-molecule compound targeting the NUAK1 kinase.
Lilly TuneLab is part of Lilly Catalyze360, alongside Lilly Ventures, Lilly Gateway Labs and Lilly ExploR&D. Lilly Catalyze360 is a program that supports innovation at biotech ventures by providing strategic capital, research space and technology, and research and development capabilities.
"By joining Lilly TuneLab, we can now apply prediction models trained on data Lilly has accumulated over many years to our own pipeline research," said Hong Yoo-seok, chief executive officer of Genome & Company. "We will assess the development potential of candidates for novel targets more precisely at an early stage and accelerate our strategy for licensing out at the preclinical stage."
Hong also has long ties with Lilly, the partner in this collaboration. He previously served as head of Eli Lilly Korea and as a senior executive in charge of strategy and business development at the emerging markets business unit of Eli Lilly's headquarters.