NaturalAntibody awarded $1.7 million non-equity research grant to expand its AI platform for developing therapeutic antibodies
4 min read16.12.2021 - NaturalAntibody, the leading bioinformatics company accelerating antibody discovery with AI-based solutions for the pharma industry, was awarded a $1.7 million grant from the National Centre for Research and Development for industrial Research & Development projects.
The company has previously raised $750 thousand in a pre-seed round. The grant funding will be put towards designing and developing an AI-based solution that allows scientists to carry out virtual experiments on monoclonal antibodies. The platform will accelerate the process of drug discovery and reduce its costs significantly.
“On average, developing a therapeutic antibody costs about $800 million and takes from ten to fifteen years. By replacing laboratory experiments with bioinformatics solutions, we can slash the development time of a new drug by even 75%. We aim to build a specialized bioinformatics platform based on artificial intelligence to provide scientists with a method for fast and precise analysis of antibody properties to accelerate their research,”
said Konrad Krawczyk, CEO and founder of NaturalAntibody.
Scientists working on antibody-based drugs are tasked with analyzing antibody sequence data to assess which sequences are the most promising and how to modify them to improve their biophysical properties. To find out whether an antibody binds to the correct place and has the necessary biophysical properties, researchers carry out multiple experiments - each lasting at least several weeks at the cost of several thousand dollars.
“By securing this grant, we proved to the commission that our company has strong research and design competencies. The implementation of effective project management processes and methodologies allows us to adequately manage the risks associated with R&D projects, focusing on the regular delivery of results in an agile manner. This grant will undoubtedly unlock additional potential,”
said Kamil Sabatowski, Vice President of the Management Board at NaturalAntibody.
“The main technological challenge we face is creating a bioinformatics platform for analyzing therapeutic antibodies delivering precision values equal to the precision of laboratory experiments. We expect our platform to enable scientists to quickly analyze the properties of antibodies using AI mechanisms and get results that are similar to ones achieved in the laboratory,” added Michał Krawczyk, member of the board and co-founder NaturalAntibody.
“Pharmaceutical companies are facing the steadily rising costs of R&D, given the increased complexity of the process. A CADD tool like NaturalAntibody’s AI platform reduces the overall costs combined and increases the development speed, which ultimately will lead to benefits for patients as the newest research ideas get to be translated quickly into breakthrough medicines,” said Jakob Saga, Chief Commercial Officer at NaturalAntibody with 12+ years of experience as a finance manager and CFO at companies like AstraZeneca and Roche.
NaturalAntibody has diversified revenue streams channels and is already generating revenue by licensing its current products used by companies such as AstraZeneca, Antiverse, GV20 among others.
The company has two institutional investors in its shareholding structure, including the venture builder Tar Heel Capital Pathfinder (a leader in the region). The acquisition of additional financing for R&D activities with grants is set to accelerate the exploration of new directions that are important to the company’s clients.
What connects all of the above issues is that NaturalAntibody constantly strives to work closely with customers, build a feedback loop, and deliver products that solve the key research problems in the drug development process.