The startup Molomics Biotech –based in the Barcelona Science Park –has launched an investment round through the Capital Cell platform. The objective is to raise 400,000 euros to bring an innovative treatment into the preclinical phase, that helps Parkinson patients to control Levodopa Induced Dyskinesia, a movement disorder that can cause a significant physical disability. “Our goal is to successfully conclude the in vivo trials and close a licensing or co-development agreement with a pharmaceutical company. To reach this point, it is important to assure financing of 400,000 euros, which can potentially be complemented with European grants and revenues through collaborations with pharmaceutical companies. We are currently in contact with some companies that have shown a lot of interest,” says Jascha Blobel, CEO of Molomics.
The founding team and the business advisors of Molomics –a company that had financial and professional support of the Michael J. Fox Foundation– have more than 90% of the shares of the startup, which guarantees an agile execution of the business plan.
"We have decided to collaborate with Capital Cell to allow anyone in Spain to become a partner of Molomics and support the fight against Parkinson's, which, if successful, could lead to a lucrative return on investment," says Blobel.
Molomics business model is based on a patented technology that allows to create different types of drugs, or in biotech terms, generate a drug development pipeline.
“We focus on treatments for central nervous system diseases such as Parkinson's, which demand is increasing as many big pharma companies have abandoned this research field. Through licenses and co-development agreements, we hope to finance the growth of Molomics until its sale to a pharmaceutical company or an IPO. In this way we want to maximize the benefit for our investors,” adds Jascha Blobel.
Artificial & Human Collective Intelligence to find better therapeutics
Molomics proprietary artificial intelligence technology, which is based on cloud computing, allows to design new therapeutics. When compared to similar technologies, its innovation is the integration of Human Collective Intelligence with Artificial Intelligence to design safer and more efficacious drug candidates in real time.
Molomics Technology –easily usable and, due to operating in the cloud, very fast and accessible to specialists from anywhere in the world– predicts multiple pharmacological properties for small molecules by combining machine learning methods and the knowledge of scientists. By providing these predictions in real time, its usage allows to explore and exploit the enormous chemical space (all 1060 small molecules that can potentially serve as drugs) taking advantage of the creativity and collective human knowledge in order to find new drugs that behave well in humans.
“Our compounds are products of high value to pharma companies as they have more possibilities to reach the market, avoiding losses of millions of euros. In fact, increasing the success of a drug candidate by 50% in second phase clinical trials translates into savings of about € 250M per project,” explains Jascha Blobel.
“A good reason to invest in Molomics is that it will solve a very real problem in the pharmaceutical industry. Its technology, in addition to applying Artificial Intelligence to the design of new molecules, incorporates the rational use of human knowledge. This combination makes it possible to reduce the number of molecules that are uselessly tested, which is critical for the industry and can represent savings of hundreds of millions of euros,” says Daniel Oliver, director of the online investment platform Capital Cell, that is specialized on health and has already raised 20 million euros in 32 financing rounds since 2015.
Two active programs against Parkinson
The main focus of Molomics is Parkinson's disease. One of its most advanced projects is against Levodopa Induced Dyskinesia.
Molomics works on a biological target associated with the unwanted effects of dopamine, a neurotransmitter which deficit is related to Parkinson's. Levodopa (a dopamine precursor drug) is considered the most effective drug for Parkinson's disease, but in patients treated for a long time, it causes abnormal involuntary movements, known as dyskinesias. Molomics discovered two new classes of molecules that could overcome this problem and cell tests have confirmed that they act through the expected biological mechanism.
The second most advanced program addresses neuroprotection. In this field, the startup focuses on a biological target of high interest: the most frequently mutated gene in people with Juvenile Parkinson's. Molomics is one of the few companies that can work on molecules with an effect on this gene.
“Our drug discovery programs advance through three phases: the feasibility study, the design phase and a partial preclinical analysis. We work with research institutes and industry partners that have unique technologies for studying new biological effects with therapeutic relevance. For example, in the case of our neuroprotection project, we are collaborating with McGill University of Canada, which has a unique experimental screen for the most frequently mutated gene in juvenile Parkinson's”, says Molomics CEO.
More than 10 million affected people
The European Parkinson's Disease Association (EPDA) estimates that more than 10 million people are affected by Parkinson's in the world. According to the Spanish Society of Neurology (SEN), about 150,000 people in Spain suffer the illness, after Alzheimer's the second most common neurodegenerative disease.
Its occurrence continues to grow worldwide due to the increase in life expectancy, therapeutic advances and early diagnosis. For that reason the SEN estimates that the number of patients will double in 20 years and, by 2050, will have triplicated.
The current total cost associated to Parkinson's Disease in Europe has been estimated by SEN to be close to 11 billion euros per year, of which disabilities and motor complications such as Levodopa Induced Dyskinesia have the greatest impact on direct costs.
■ To invest in Molomics: https://capitalcell.es/campaign/molomics/
■ About Molomics
Molomics Biotech (http://www.molomics.com/) is a drug discovery and development company based on a proprietary Artificial Intelligence technology that allows to design more efficacious and safer therapeutics to achieve higher success probabilities in clinical trials. The main focus of Molomics is Parkinson’s disease. The two main programs focus on Levodopa Induced Dyskinesia and Neuroprotection.
Different to other Artificial Intelligence biotechs, Molomics Technology integrates Artificial Intelligence with specialists and their collective intelligence to effectively search for new small molecules with novel chemical structures.
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