Dallas-based Lantern Pharma recently developed what it calls “highly accurate AI algorithms” to predict the ability of a drug or compound to pass through the blood-brain barrier (BBB).
The BBB acts like a highly selective firewall, preventing an estimated 98% of drugs from entering the brain—making it a major hurdle in the development of brain and central nervous system drugs.
Lantern said its BBB permeability prediction AI algorithms have a prediction accuracy of 89-92%, and the results can be generated in as little as one minute.
Leveraging proprietary RADR AI and machine learning platform
The clinical-stage biopharmaceutical company says it uses its proprietary RADR AI and machine learning platform to transform the cost, pace, and timeline of oncology drug discovery and development.
“Lantern’s new BBB prediction module is a major development for our AI RADR platform and continues to demonstrate how Lantern is applying AI to advance, de-risk, and significantly reduce costs in oncology drug discovery, “ Panna Sharma, Lantern’s CEO and president, said in a statement.
“Biopharma companies can spend millions of dollars annually on intensive wet-lab experiments to attempt to validate whether a drug passes the BBB,” Sharma added. “Our AI/ML approach offers a rapid and highly-accurate alternative for predicting a drug’s BBB permeability, which will not only advance our drug development pipeline, but will also facilitate opportunities for new high-value business development collaborations with other biopharma companies to develop brain and CNS drugs.”
AI tools that speed cancer-fighting drug discovery and development
With the BBB no longer an insurmountable obstacle, Lantern Pharma’s innovative approach to predicting BBB permeability has the potential to bust through the brain’s firewall and unlock new possibilities for the discovery and development of brain and CNS cancer treatments.
Lantern says its predictive algorithms are a game changer, allowing for rapid and cost-effective screening of literally thousands of compounds to determine their ability to cross the BBB.
The Therapeutic Data Commons, an evaluator of therapeutic-focused AI algorithms, has ranked Lantern’s four AI BBB permeability prediction algorithms as the top four best-performing BBB prediction algorithms.
The BBB permeability prediction AI algorithms are fully integrated into Lantern’s AI platform RADR and are being made available to Lantern’s wholly-owned subsidiary, Starlight Therapeutics, to further advance its brain and CNS cancer drug programs.
In addition to providing value for future biopharma collaborations, the company said its RADR BBB permeability prediction module will help to advance opportunities for the discovery and development of new drug candidates for the hundreds of thousands of brain and CNS cancer patients who have a large and unmet need for new and effective cancer therapies.
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