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Novadiscovery pioneers the use of in silico clinical trials to predict drug efficacy and optimize clinical development, an approach meeting the strong expectations from pharmaceutical companies for faster and more efficient development, and benefiting from increased endorsement from health regulatory agencies in the US and in Europe
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The investment arm of Debiopharm, a private, Swiss corporate fund specialized in Smart Data and Digital Health, leads the Series A
January 9, 2020, 7am ET / 1pm CET – The French health-tech company Novadiscovery, which performs in silico trials for pharma and biotech companies with the aim of reducing research & development (R&D) costs and time-to-market of novel drugs, has closed the first 5 million euros of a 7 million euros Series A funding round with Debiopharm.
Novadiscovery will use the funding to scale its in silico clinical trial simulation platform Jinkō® in a software as a service (SaaS) model and develop further disease models, enabling its clients to directly conduct their in silico trials, and to develop its presence on the US market, the largest market globally for drug development. Novadiscovery has developed a hybrid platform blending mechanistic models with artificial intelligence (AI), which goal is to de-risk R&D decisions by predicting the clinical benefits of new drugs before trials in human. While Jinkō® is indication-agnostic, over the past decade it has been notably deployed in immuno-oncology, orphan diseases, metabolic diseases and cardiotherapy.
“We have seen the significant positive impact our in silico trials platform can have on reducing R&D costs and compressing time-to-market for new drugs and in drug repositioning. This funding allows us to accelerate the development of our platform in a SaaS model that will make it available to a growing number of clients and projects, notably in the US. We are excited by the synergies we can reap from collaborating with a strategic investor such as Debiopharm Innovation Fund which brings a deep understanding of healthcare, life sciences and digital health.”
– François-Henri Boissel, CEO and Co-Founder.
“We’re excited about the impact that in silico trials could have on drug development. Plus, we’re particularly enthusiastic to help take this approach to different fields of research in the US market where the benefit of this R&D accelerator is expected to offer real improvements in patient outcomes.”
– Tanja Dowe, CEO for the investment arm of Debiopharm.
About in silico clinical trials
Reducing R&D costs and time-to-market has become a key strategic objective for healthcare companies and payors. The in silico trial market is evaluated to grow to $2,88 billion in annual revenue by 2022, when it will still represent only a small fraction of $165 billion annual drug R&D spent[1].
Reducing the number of “real” patients involved in clinical trials is a central issue, for both the industry and regulators. Because there are not so many patients considering the number of drugs to be evaluated, and their participation in a clinical trial must be as ethical as possible.
Nova’s unique hybrid approach to running in silico clinical trials presents several benefits, one of which being that it can operate in data-poor environments, which is the biggest hurdle more conventional AI approaches are facing. The computer modelling & simulation of drugs, diseases and virtual patients yields high value applications spanning the entire R&D spectrum, from systematic target combination exploration to late-stage trial size reduction through the characterization of optimal responder profiles.
From an ethical point of view, Nova’s approach helps ensure that patients benefit from the most satisfactory therapeutic response and in the best possible time.
The US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) is already strongly committed to the emergence of in silico trials to improve R&D output: among the FDA’s top 8 strategic priorities, 4 are related to modelling and simulation[2].
About Novadiscovery
Pioneer of in silico medicine, NOVADISCOVERY improves the R&D productivity and maximizes patient outcomes by predicting a new drug’s clinical benefit by computer simulation ahead of human trials.
NOVADISCOVERY’s innovative approach combines mathematical models of diseases and treatments with virtual patients into its integrated clinical trial simulation platform Jinkō® which brings together all the modeling and simulation expertise of the company accumulated over the past decade.
Headquartered in Lyon, France, NOVADISCOVERY assembles a team of about 30 scientists, engineers & clinicians who work at the interface of biology, pharmacology, mathematics & computer sciences.
For more information, please visit https://www.novadiscovery.com and follow us on Twitter @novadiscovery and linkedin.com/company/novadiscovery
About Debiopharm
Debiopharm develops, manufactures and invests in innovative therapies and technologies that respond to high unmet medical needs in oncology and bacterial infections. The objective of our investment arm is to provide strategic funding and guidance for companies with Smart Data & Digital Health solutions with the ambition to change the way drugs are developed and the way patients are treated. Our growing portfolio company achievements includes 18 FDA clearances or CE marks and 2 IPOs. Since 2008, the company has invested nearly USD 100 millions and led 10 out of the 14 last investment rounds in its portfolio companies.
For more information, please visit www.debiopharm.com
We are on Twitter. Follow us @DebiopharmNews
[1] Unlocking R&D productivity, Deloitte-Global data report 2018
[2] US Congress, Jul-2017; FDA pilot program, Apr-2018