After more than two years of testing, a Philadelphia medical technology company has officially launched an artificial intelligence-based operating system it created to dramatically accelerate the identification and development of promising drug candidates.

To support the launch of its platform, BioPhy has raised $4.5 million from investors led by Chelsea Clinton’s Metrodora Ventures, Audere Capital, and TRCM. Other investors include Jeff Marrazzo, co-founder and former CEO of Spark Therapeutics.

BioPhy’s AI and machine learning platform was created to assess the biological feasibility of new drug candidates and predict the likelihood a clinical trial will have a positive outcome, allowing drug developers to more efficiently allocate capital and bring potential new therapies to patients faster.

BioPhy was founded in 2020 by Dave Latshaw II and Steven Truong, the company's chief financial officer. Latshaw was previously a senior scientist for the Janssen Pharmaceutical Cos. of Johnson & Johnson. Truong was director of financial planning and analysis at FS Investments. They met after their respective employers sponsored their enrollment in the University of Pennsylvania's Wharton MBA Program for Executives.

Latshaw, a computational biomolecular and chemical engineer, was involved in the deployment of more than 20 programs that used AI across several drug development functions at Johnson & Johnson’s Advanced Technologies Center of Excellence — resulting in a 20% reduction in costs and a 50% increase in study reliability.

“Working inside the four walls of a major pharmaceutical company, I experienced first-hand how AI can be leveraged to solve the inefficiencies that come with functions supporting drug development," Latshaw said, citing as one example the historical practice of biotech companies manually combing through scientific literature, conducting lab experiments, and using traditional statistical analysis to identify promising compounds.

"Inefficiencies like these in drug development mean that billions of dollars are wasted every year by even the world’s leading companies, tragically resulting in significant delays that cost lives and fewer therapies reaching patients in need," he said.

BioPhy has two core products: BioPhyRx and BioLogicAI.

The company describes BioPhyRx as "a generative AI platform designed to create a centralized, intuitive environment for accessing scientific and regulatory resources." It is designed to assist pharmaceutical companies in all stages of development by analyzing and interpreting scientific literature, clinical trials, regulatory guidelines and submissions, quality assurance documents, and other industry-specific sources to provide accurate and up-to-date information on demand.

BioLogicAI, the company said, is "a predictive AI engine that provides customized insights to aid life science companies through all stages of the drug development process including clinical trial endpoint predictability, indication selection, licensing, drug repurposing, asset acquisitions, and divestment." Another feature of BioLogicAI is its ability to benchmark the biological feasibility of preclinical assets against those in development or already approved by the FDA.

BioPhy currently has pilot and commercial agreements with several leading pharmaceutical companies.

Publication: Philadelphia Business Journal

Link: BioPhy launches AI platform with $4.5M funding round led by Chelsea Clinton's VC firm - Philadelphia Business Journal (bizjournals.com)