31st Jan 2020 17:32
(Alliance News) - Frontier IP Group PLC on Friday said portfolio company Exscientia has begun the first clinical trials of new drug candidate DSP-1181.
Shares in Frontier IP, which commercialises university intellectual property, closed up 0.6% at 67.40 pence in London on Friday.
DSP-1181 is being developed jointly by Exscientia and Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma to treat obsessive-compulsive disorder, also known as OCD, as an initial indication. A phase 1 clinical study of the drug has begun in Japan.
OCD, a psychiatric disorder, is characterised by obsessions such as repetitive thoughts or urges and can also involve compulsions, where a person repeats behaviours or mental acts. Its mechanism is unknown, though estimates put the number of patients in Japan at more than a million and in the US at around 3 million.
The drug was created by artificial intelligence, Exscientia's focus being "AI-driven drug discovery".
Exscientia Chief Executive Andrew Hopkins said: "We believe that this entry of DSP-1181, created using AI, into clinical studies is a key milestone in drug discovery. This project's rapid success was through strong alignment of the integrated knowledge and experiences in chemistry and pharmacology on monoamine GPCR drug discovery at Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma with our AI technologies. We are proud that our AI drug discovery platform Centaur Chemist has contributed to generate DSP-1181 and look forward to its progression as a treatment for obsessive-compulsive disorder."
By Anna Farley; [email protected]
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