UK – Avacta Therapeutics, a UK-based developer of peptide drug conjugates for cancer treatment, has partnered with Tempus AI, a leader in artificial intelligence for precision medicine.
This collaboration aims to leverage Tempus’s vast multimodal datasets and AI capabilities to advance Avacta’s oncology drug development, particularly in targeting the tumor microenvironment and fibroblast activation protein (FAP) activity, essential to Avacta’s proprietary pre|CISION® technology.
The collaboration will give Avacta access to Tempus’s rich collection of tumor samples and associated clinical data, encompassing over 200,000 patient records.
This wealth of information will play a crucial role in helping Avacta analyze the tumor microenvironment and fibroblast activation protein (FAP) activity, both of which are essential to the company’s pre|CISION platform.
Avacta’s pre|CISION technology is designed to deliver potent anticancer treatments directly to tumors by targeting tumor-specific protease activity, significantly reducing damage to healthy tissues.
Speaking on the impact of this collaboration, Dr. Christina Coughlin, CEO of Avacta, expressed her optimism:
“Our oncology programs will gain substantial advantages from a deeper understanding of the tumor microenvironment and FAP biology.
Tempus’s AI-driven analysis will help us identify the patient populations most likely to benefit from our pre|CISION therapies, leading to smarter, faster clinical development with a greater chance of success.”
By analyzing both high and low-FAP expression across different solid tumors, Avacta aims to refine its approach and enhance its ability to target specific cancer types more effectively.
Pre|CISION platform expands with new drug candidates
Avacta is actively growing its drug development pipeline, recently launching two new preclinical programs: AVA6103 and AVA7100.
AVA6103 is a peptide drug conjugate that uses exatecan, a topoisomerase I inhibitor, to deliver targeted anti-tumor effects with minimal harm to healthy tissues.
Meanwhile, AVA7100, a first-in-class Affimer drug conjugate, is designed to target cancers that exhibit varying levels of FAP expression.
These developments highlight Avacta’s commitment to creating therapies that are not only effective but also tailored to the unique biological features of different tumors.
The pre|CISION platform is at the heart of this mission, leveraging FAP upregulation in solid tumors to release active anticancer agents in the tumor environment, thereby reducing systemic exposure and toxicity.
AI-driven insights to enhance clinical development
Tempus AI brings a wealth of expertise in AI-driven data analysis and precision medicine.
The company’s vast dataset and cutting-edge technology will help Avacta dive deeper into tumor biology, ultimately refining their drug development process.
Tempus’s computational biology team will work alongside Avacta’s researchers to assess tumor microenvironments and predict patient responses, ensuring that clinical trials are better targeted and more efficient.
Dr. Kate Sasser, Chief Scientific Officer of Tempus AI, emphasized the importance of the collaboration:
“Our mission is to make one of the world’s largest multimodal data libraries accessible and useful. Partnering with Avacta allows us to further this mission while helping them bring innovative, game-changing therapies to patients in need.”
By combining their strengths, the two companies hope to accelerate the identification of broader patient populations who may benefit from Avacta’s pre|CISION therapies.
This AI-driven approach is expected to streamline the drug development process and increase the likelihood of successful clinical outcomes.
