Clinical stage infectious disease pharmaceutical company Poolbeg Pharma has reported a "significant breakthrough" in its AI programme with partner OneThree Biotech.

The company has discovered a number of novel drug targets for the treatment of Respiratory Syncytial Virus (RSV) in what is the first time that AI has been used to identify disease targets in RSV.

OneThree identified these novel drug targets using Poolbeg's unique RSV human challenge trial data, and the final stage of the programme, which will involve the identification of small molecule inhibitors to effectively treat RSV infections, can now commence.

A number of targets already have known drugs with existing Phase 1 safety and tolerability data, which Poolbeg said would allow for a smooth transition to early human efficacy trials.

The final stage of the research plan will utilise OneThree's proprietary ATLANTIS AI platform to identify the drugs that are most likely to be efficacious against the identified disease targets with clean safety profiles in RSV patients.

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Selection of drugs is traditionally a long and extensive process, however, by using an existing AI model this process can be completed in weeks. Results of this stage are expected before year end 2022.

RSV is a contagious virus that affects people's respiratory tract, with children and older adults at particular risk. In severe cases, it can cause pneumonia and life-threatening breathing difficulties.

"This is the first time that AI has been used to identify disease targets in RSV and I am delighted to have reached this significant milestone in the programme in such a short period of time," said Jeremy Skillington, CEO of Poolbeg Pharma.

"Having identified these novel disease targets, we can now commence the final stage of the programme to identify effective drug candidates to treat RSV.

"In keeping with our capital-light model, this AI enabled in silico R&D approach has significantly accelerated the discovery process by having the right partners and the right expertise to unleash the potential of our unique human challenge trial data. We greatly look forward to seeing the outputs of this programme later this year."

RSV is believed to affect 50m people annually, causing 4m global hospitalisations and an estimated 100,000 deaths in children aged under five. An estimated 45% of these cases and deaths occur in new-born infants under the age of 6 months.

Treatment for RSV in children under five alone has been estimated to cost governments globally €4.8bn every year.

Neel S. Madhukar, CEO of OneThree Biotech said: "This analysis is pioneering in RSV research, and we are pleased to have identified disease targets from which effective drug candidates can be explored.

"We are fortunate to have access to Poolbeg's unique human challenge trial data because it was collected in a controlled and powered quarantine which increases the overall strength and predictive power you can get from it.

"Additionally, thanks to the combination of Poolbeg's data and our ATLANTIS platform, we were able to reach this point in our project in only eight months - significantly faster than a traditional drug discovery project - and we're excited to make meaningful progress in the treatment of infectious diseases, such as RSV."

Photo: Jeremy Skillington. (Pic: Jason Clarke)