Algorae Pharmaceuticals (ASX: 1AI) has entered into an agreement with the Victorian Centre for Functional Genomics (VCFG) at the Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre for a second program to independently validate predictions from its proprietary AlgoraeOS version 2 (AOS2) platform.
Under the terms, the VCFG will use its advanced screening platform to evaluate the predicted synergy of 24 high-priority drug combinations across glioblastoma, rhabdomyosarcoma, melanoma and chronic myelogenous leukaemia cancer cell lines.
The process will include optimising cell growth conditions for high-throughput drug screening; quantifying treatment effects using microscopy and chemiluminescence assays; generating single-agent dose response curves across all lines; and conducting synergy screens using selected dose ranges.
The project is anticipated to generate key pre-clinical data within six months, and could significantly de-risk further development of the drug combinations.
AOS2 Outperformance
The AOS2 prediction set comprises cannabidiol (CBD) and more than 3,000 approved and investigational drugs evaluated across 170 cell lines and representing in aggregate more than 500,000 potential CBD-drug-cell line combinations.
Algorae’s research showed the platform can outperform representative state-of-the-art models (including those from Google DeepMind) and demonstrate stronger calibration across biologically-diverse and clinically-relevant synergy regions.
AOS2 predictions span the full spectrum of interaction from strong agonism to strong synergy and provide additional granularity across each of the four recognised synergy metrics (being ZIP, Bliss, HSA and Loewe).
Algorae chief scientific officer Dr James McKenna said the new agreement would be “an important step in the development of AOS2 as we continue to bridge the gap between in silico prediction and biological validation”.
Preliminary Examination
Algorae completed a preliminary examination of the AOS2 prediction set in December using pre-specified prioritisation thresholds that balance the magnitude of predicted synergy with uncertainty reduction and biological generalisability.
The company identified 90 potential drug combination candidates and, following analysis of commercial and intellectual property considerations, narrowed the list to 24 high-priority drug combination candidates for pre-clinical validation under the second program.
Established 16 years ago, the VCFG has become an internationally-recognised technology platform enabling advanced high-throughput screens using gene and drug targeting strategies coupled with innovative image analytics.
It is located within Peter MacCallum Cancer Centre—a world-leading cancer research, education, and treatment centre that sees more than 47,000 patients each year.
