- POAI boasts unique historical database documenting actual drug responses of tumors – the largest in the world with over 150,000 tumors across 137 types
- Drug discovery funding for subsidiary Helomics planned through relationships with large pharmaceutical companies
- Company planning to acquire two new biological firms in the precision medicine space
Predictive Oncology Inc. (NASDAQ: POAI) is a knowledge-driven medicine company focused on applying data and artificial intelligence (AI) to cancer personalized medicine and drug discovery. In a recent interview (http://ibn.fm/fKe3u), POAI director and CEO Dr. Carl Schwartz discussed the acquisition of two biological firms, along with details about the company’s proprietary Helomics database. Comprised of hundreds of thousands of tumors across numerous cancer types, this key asset gives the company a significant advantage over its competitors in the precision medicine industry.
“Predictive’s major asset is its Helomics subsidiary and its proprietary database of over 150,000 cancer tumors covering over 137 types of cancers, with over 30,000 tumors related to ovarian cancer, which is sort of our specialty,” Schwartz stated of the database, which was created as a result of Helomics clinical testing of drug response and biomarker profiling of tumors ordered by a nationwide network of oncologists. “This is the largest inventory of its kind in the world.”
“The results of this tumor profiling were reported to the referring oncologist and used as a guide to individualizing the therapy of that patient,” Schwartz explained.
As part of its research into building AI-driven predictive models of tumor drug response and outcome (http://ibn.fm/kDL1Q), Helomics is generating additional, deeper genomic profiling of tumors in its collection and coupling this with a ‘reach back,’ to the originating oncologist to obtain the eventual outcomes of the patients over an extended period of time. The retrospective project with UPMC-Magee is one of the first such examples of this (http://ibn.fm/93NFU).
“I want to strongly emphasize that Helomics has a significant competitive advantage in obtaining outcome data via ‘reach back’,” stated Schwartz. “Unlike other companies that have to wait for up to 5 years or more for the patient to go through treatment to get quality outcome data, we have historical data from 15 plus years of clinical testing available now,” he emphasized, referring to the proprietary database and AI-driven predictive models that are of particular interest to pharmaceutical companies for drug discovery, giving POAI a significant advantage over other competitors in the precision medicine space.
POAI aims to fund the research activities of Helomics through a path similar to that taken by Foundation Medicine and its collaborative research relationship with Roche Pharmaceuticals. As its Helomics subsidiary continues its CancerQuest 2020 project with UPMC Magee Women’s Hospital, it is also collaborating with Interpace Diagnostics to build an AI-driven model of thyroid cancer and with ChemImage to investigate novel prostate cancer diagnostics.
The company has also invested in TumorGenesis, a second wholly owned subsidiary, in addition to engaging in the process of acquiring two other biological firms: Soluble Therapeutics and BioDtech.
The details discussed in the interview demonstrate POAI’s ability to validate its process, Schwartz noted, mentioning the company’s intent to “go to the pharma industry for major funding for development of AI-driven predictive models based on our extensive database.”
“We’re pretty excited about this. We think we’re going to finally get to the top of the heap here very shortly,” he concluded.
POAI is bringing precision medicine, or tailored medical treatment using the individual characteristics of each patient, to the treatment of cancer. Through its Helomics division, the company leverages its unique, clinically validated patient derived (PDx) smart tumor profiling platform to provide oncologists with a roadmap to help individualize therapy. In addition, the company is leveraging artificial intelligence and its proprietary database of over 150,000 cancer cases tumors to build AI-driven models of tumor drug repose to improve outcomes for the patients of today and tomorrow.
For more information, visit the company’s website at www.Predictive-Oncology.com
NOTE TO INVESTORS: The latest news and updates relating to POAI are available in the company’s newsroom at http://ibn.fm/POAI
