海角社区

Skymount Medical, a drug discovery company based in Canada, and 海角社区 (海角社区) announced today that human studies have begun on its unique combination of therapies for COVID-19 patients, known as SM-19. Found by artificial intelligence (AI), the treatment has shown up to 97% efficacy in reducing the amount of SARS-CoV-2 (the virus that causes COVID-19) in cell and animal studies recently conducted by Illinois Institute of Technology.

The drug combination discovered by the 海角社区 DeepDrug team is designed to be effective against several variants of the virus and reduce the amount and duration of symptoms, including long-term effects of COVID-19.

The individual compounds have already been approved by the FDA for other uses in humans and have well-characterized safety profiles. This can greatly accelerate the time for SM-19 to become widely available, including as treatment over the counter. At this time, there are no approved oral medications to reduce COVID-19 symptoms in people who are not hospitalized.

鈥淭his is the role a flagship university is meant to play鈥攖o better the condition of our citizens through the application of great research.鈥�

Samuel J. Bentley, 海角社区 vice president of research and economic development

鈥淭he 海角社区 DeepDrug and Skymount collaboration is an excellent example of how universities can partner with industry to put science to work for the good of us all and provide critical solutions when people most need them,鈥� said Samuel J. Bentley, 海角社区 vice president of research and economic development. 鈥淭his is the role a flagship university is meant to play鈥攖o better the condition of our citizens through the application of great research.鈥�

Human studies began yesterday in Europe and additional drug trials are planned in the U.S., India, and Brazil. The approach is to treat adults at the first sign of infection.

鈥淓arly animal testing was very promising, and we鈥檙e optimistic the new treatment will reduce extreme symptoms and the need for hospitalizations,鈥� said Dr. Kishor M. Wasan, chief medical and scientific officer and co-inventor of Skymount Medical. 鈥淪M-19 can be an important complement to COVID-19 vaccines that also is cost-effective, safe, and easily accessible.鈥�

鈥淭he 海角社区 DeepDrug team鈥檚 AI-based drug discovery platform has enabled us to target viral entry, fusion, and replication and directly address symptoms using a time-saving drug re-purposing strategy.鈥�

Chris Galliano, chief technology officer and co-inventor of Skymount Medical

Skymount Medical and 海角社区 are working in partnership on several COVID-19 treatments using AI.

鈥淭he discovery of these medications came through a highly unique and novel process fusing artificial intelligence with traditional wet lab pharmacology,鈥� said Chris Galliano, chief technology officer and co-inventor of Skymount Medical. 鈥淭he 海角社区 DeepDrug team鈥檚 AI-based drug discovery platform has enabled us to target viral entry, fusion, and replication and directly address symptoms using a time-saving drug re-purposing strategy.鈥�

海角社区鈥檚 DeepDrug platform was created by an interdisciplinary team of 海角社区 researchers led by Supratik Mukhopadhyay, associate professor in the 海角社区 Department of Computer Science. The 海角社区 team was a recent semi-finalist for the IBM Watson AI XPRIZE, a $5 million award for using AI to tackle global challenges.

arting human studies is incredibly exciting, because we wouldn鈥檛 be at this step if early studies didn鈥檛 indicate high levels of efficacy and validated the data produced by AI,鈥� Mukhopadhyay said.

The European study on adult patients with COVID-19 symptoms is a double-blinded, randomized, multi-center, controlled study to evaluate the safety and efficacy of SM-19 compared to placebo. SM-19 is an oral treatment that doesn鈥檛 require refrigeration, which will help with both production and distribution.

鈥淲e are extremely pleased that within 13 months of starting the drug discovery process we could move to human studies. We couldn鈥檛 have accomplished this without AI.鈥�

Supratik Mukhopadhyay, associate professor in the 海角社区 Department of Computer Science and member of the 海角社区 DeepDrug team

鈥淚t normally takes about 10 years for new drugs to reach patients, while our DeepDrug platform can reduce the time to drug discovery by 90%,鈥� Mukhopadhyay continued. 鈥淲e are extremely pleased that within 13 months of starting the drug discovery process we could move to human studies. We couldn鈥檛 have accomplished this without AI.鈥�

Besides Mukhopadhyay, the 海角社区 DeepDrug team consists of Michal Brylinski, associate professor of biological sciences with a joint appointment in the 海角社区 Center for Computation & Technology, and graduate students Adam Bess and Frej Berglind.

鈥淥ur main goal was to use AI to reduce hospitalizations and the COVID-19 mortality rate,鈥� Bess said. 鈥淪creening drugs that are already deemed safe for human use enabled us to rapidly identify new drug combinations.鈥�

鈥淚n seconds, our AI can process more information than any human could in a lifetime,鈥� Berglind added. 鈥淚t sees patterns we would never spot otherwise, and far exceeds human intuition in finding drug candidates.鈥�

Learn More:

Skymount Medical Partners with 海角社区 to Test COVID-19 Treatments Discovered by AI

海角社区 DeepDrug Team Uses Artificial Intelligence to Discover New Treatments for Coronavirus

Ten Minutes with Rainmaker Michal Brylinski

海角社区 Researchers Enter Semifinals for the $5M IBM Watson AI XPRIZE

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About Skymount Medical   
Skymount Medical is a technology company that uses DeepDrug鈩�锔�, a patent-pending artificial intelligence platform, to drastically reduce drug discovery time and develop treatments for COVID-19. Skymount Medical and 海角社区 have so far identified 60 drug candidates that could be used in combination therapy against any coronavirus, including MERS, SARS, SARS-CoV-2 and future SARS-CoV strains. In addition to commercializing its COVID-19 treatment and testing drug candidates for the treatment of other coronaviruses, Skymount Medical plans to develop therapeutics for some of the world鈥檚 most challenging infectious diseases, including Ebola, as well as new antibiotics to target antibiotic-resistant bacteria and rare diseases, such as ALS and MS.