Rakovina Enhances AI for Cancer DNA-damage Kinase Target Selection

Rakovina Therapeutics, a biotech firm concentrating on cancer treatment, has recently formed a collaboration with Variational AI to discover new therapies targeting DNA-damage response (DDR) pathways. This partnership comes five months after Rakovina shifted its focus towards incorporating artificial intelligence in its research efforts. The collaboration aims to leverage Variational AI’s Enki platform to pinpoint novel inhibitors for specific DDR kinase targets identified by Rakovina.

Variational AI's Enki platform is described as a pioneering model for small molecules, designed to help biopharmaceutical companies discover new, potent, safe, and synthetically feasible lead compounds significantly faster and at a lower cost compared to traditional chemistry methods. Earlier this year, Merck & Co. began utilizing this platform, highlighting its credibility and potential.

Under the terms of the collaboration, Rakovina will pay a minimal upfront fee to start work on each selected target. If Rakovina wishes to obtain the rights to any drugs discovered through this partnership, it will also pay an exercise fee. There is potential for further milestone payments as the collaboration progresses.

The process will see Variational AI utilizing its Enki platform to generate a list of potential drug candidates, which will then be synthesized and assessed by Rakovina over a period of 12 to 18 months. Rakovina will conduct these evaluations in its laboratories at the University of British Columbia.

Rakovina’s research and development efforts are still in the preclinical phase, with its drug pipeline currently led by dual-function DDR inhibitors designed to combat PARP-resistant cancers. In March, Rakovina announced a strategic shift that included adopting the Deep Docking AI platform, created by University of British Columbia professor Artem Cherkasov, Ph.D., to identify DDR targets.

Jeffrey Bacha, Rakovina’s Executive Chairman, expressed enthusiasm about the collaboration in a recent release. He stated that the partnership with Variational AI is a valuable extension to their existing Deep Docking AI partnership. This new collaboration is expected to broaden Rakovina’s pipeline beyond its current development of next-generation PARP inhibitors.

Bacha also emphasized that combining Variational AI’s expertise in kinases with Rakovina’s focus on DDR targets will enhance opportunities for partnerships, as major pharmaceutical companies continue to show strong interest in innovative therapies targeting these pathways.

This alliance could significantly accelerate Rakovina’s progress in developing new cancer therapies, making it a notable development in the biotech field's ongoing efforts to harness artificial intelligence for medical breakthroughs.