AsiaNet 89398

NEW YORK, May 6, 2021 /PRNewswire=KYODO JBN/ --

DarwinHealth, a New York City-based biotechnology company, today announced a

scientific research collaboration with Bristol-Myers Squibb Company (NYSE:

BMY).  The research collaboration, the Novel Cancer Target Initiative (NCTI),

employs quantitative systems biology-based algorithms, proprietary databases,

and validated technologies to identify novel cancer targets (NCTs) across a

range of tumor subtypes.

Logo - https://mma.prnewswire.com/media/966600/DarwinHealth_Logo.jpg  

The methodology underpinning the NCTI is based on an understanding of critical

mechanisms linked to tumor dependencies and maintenance beyond genetic

mutations. To facilitate the discovery of NCTs, DarwinHealth will provide

Bristol Myers Squibb proprietary information residing in its drug databases,

including tumor context-specific analyses of Master Regulators of distinct

tumor subtypes, as well as direct upstream modulators.  

"The collaboration is focused on identifying novel, high-value cancer targets

across a range of pre-selected tumor subtypes, with an eye towards identifying

novel targets that are recurrent among different types of cancer, leading to

the design and development of drugs with multi-subtype indications," said

Gideon Bosker, MD, Chief Executive Officer, DarwinHealth. "Once identified and

prioritized, these targets can undergo rigorous experimental validation to

drive drug development for a new generation of anti-cancer therapies that could

be developed by Bristol Myers Squibb."

"The novel cancer targets will be selected and prioritized based on their role

as either Master Regulators (MRs) or Master Regulator Upstream Modulators

(MRUMs) within the Tumor Checkpoint module of a specific human malignancy,"

said Professor Andrea Califano, Chair, Department of Systems Biology (

https://c212.net/c/link/?t=0&l=en&o=3153888-1&h=1589999419&u=http%3A%2F%2Fsystemsbiology.columbia.edu%2F&a=Department+of+Systems+Biology

), Columbia University, and Co-Founder and Chairman of Scientific and Medical

Advisory Board, DarwinHealth.  "We believe that the mechanism-based insights,

as provided by DarwinHealth's precision oncology-focused systems biology

platforms, can substantially accelerate the development of drugs targeting

non-oncogene dependencies that underpin and drive key cancer hallmarks."

The NCTI agreement represents an important extension and scientific leveraging

of the ongoing  Compound-2-Clinic (C2C) multi-year collaboration initiated with

Celgene on August 28, 2019, which aims to assess, characterize, and prioritize

for clinical development and experimental validation the oncology-relevant

bioactivity of a pre-specified library of Bristol Myers Squibb compounds.

As part of the NCTI collaboration, DarwinHealth will receive an upfront payment

and has the potential to receive development and commercialization milestone

payments.

About DarwinHealth

DarwinHealth: Precision Therapeutics for Cancer Medicine is a "frontiers of

cancer," technology-focused company, co-founded by CEO Gideon Bosker, MD, and

Professor Andrea Califano, Clyde and Helen Wu Professor of Chemical Systems

Biology and Chair, Department of Systems Biology at Columbia University. The

company's technology was developed by the Califano lab over the past 14 years

and is exclusively licensed from Columbia University.

DarwinHealth utilizes proprietary, systems biology algorithms to match

virtually every cancer patient with the drugs and drug combinations that are

most likely to produce a successful treatment outcome. "Conversely, these same

algorithms also can prioritize investigational drugs and compound combinations

of unknown potential against a full spectrum of human malignancies, as well as

novel cancer targets," explained Dr. Bosker, "which make them invaluable for

pharmaceutical companies seeking to both optimize their compound pipelines and

discover mechanistically actionable, novel cancer targets and compound-tumor

alignments."

DarwinHealth's mission statement is to deploy novel technologies rooted in

systems biology to improve clinical outcomes of cancer treatment. Its core

technology, the VIPER algorithm, can identify tightly knit modules of master

regulator proteins that represent a new class of actionable therapeutic targets

and predictive biomarkers in cancer. The methodology is applied along two

complementary axes: First, DarwinHealth's technologies support the systematic

identification and validation of druggable targets at a more foundational, deep

state of the cancer cell's regulatory logic so we and our scientific partners

can exploit next generation actionability based on fundamental and more

universal tumor dependencies and mechanisms. Second, from a drug development

and discovery perspective, the same technologies capable of identifying

potentially druggable novel targets based on master regulators, and upstream

modulators of those targets. This is where the DarwinHealth oncotectural

approach, with its emphasis on elucidating and targeting tumor checkpoints,

provides its most important solutions and repositioning roadmaps for advancing

precision-focused cancer drug discovery and therapeutics.

The proprietary, precision medicine-based methods employed by DarwinHealth are

supported by a deep body of scientific literature authored by its scientific

leadership, including DarwinHealth CSO, Mariano Alvarez, PhD, who co-developed

the company's critical computational infrastructure. These proprietary

strategies leverage the ability to reverse-engineer and analyze the genome-wide

regulatory and signaling logic of the cancer cell, by integrating data from in

silico, in vitro, and in vivo assays. This provides a fully integrated drug

characterization and discovery platform designed to elucidate, accelerate, and

validate precise developmental trajectories for pharmaceutical assets, so their

full clinical and commercial potential can be realized. For more information,

please visit: www.DarwinHealth.com.

SOURCE  DarwinHealth

CONTACT: Gideon Bosker, MD, CEO, DarwinHealth, Inc., Email:

GBosker@DarwinHealth.com, Phone: (1) 503-880-2207