IAM-C1

Less than a year after raising a $100-million B round, AI-powered drug discovery firm Iambic Therapeutics has added $50 million more to its coffers. The extension was led by new investors Mubadala Capital and Exor Ventures, with participation from Qatar Investment Authority as well as existing investors Illumina Ventures, Nexus Venture Partners, Coatue, Tao Capital Partners, and Abingworth. The latter co-led Iambic’s October series B along with Ascenta Capital. The new funds will help Iambic further progress its lead programme, IAM1363. The brain-penetrant small molecule, which inhibits both wild-type and oncogenic HER2, is being tested in a Phase I trial as both monotherapy and in combination with Herceptin (trastuzumab) in patients with HER2-positive cancers. The company is also close to entering the clinic with IAM-C1, a dual CDK2/4 inhibitor that has the potential to be first-in-class. Iambic said the candidate is intended to address treatment resistance in solid tumours such as breast cancer, and have a wider therapeutic index than approved CDK4/6 inhibitors.  AI technologiesBoth of Iambic’s disclosed programmes were discovered using the company’s AI models for holistic drug design. By integrating its algorithms with an automated and high-throughput biology and chemistry experimental platform, the company says it can identify new chemical mechanisms to address intractable biological targets.The technology is also designed to speed up drug discovery workflow by processing thousands of molecular constructs and enabling weekly 'design-make-test' cycles. Additionally, the platform can optimise a potential candidate’s therapeutic window and discover compounds with highly differentiated properties. Mubadala partner Ayman AlAbdallah said Iambic’s AI-enabled drug discovery models have “demonstrated accuracy and speed… to rapidly advance candidates from discovery and into human studies.”