{"id":635295,"date":"2024-09-10T07:00:00","date_gmt":"2024-09-10T04:00:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/heart-disease-is-the-worlds-biggest-killer-this-cambridge-uni-spinout-is-using-ai-to-find-new-treatments\/"},"modified":"2024-09-10T07:00:00","modified_gmt":"2024-09-10T04:00:00","slug":"heart-disease-is-the-worlds-biggest-killer-this-cambridge-uni-spinout-is-using-ai-to-find-new-treatments","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/heart-disease-is-the-worlds-biggest-killer-this-cambridge-uni-spinout-is-using-ai-to-find-new-treatments\/","title":{"rendered":"#Heart disease is the world&#8217;s biggest killer \u2014 this Cambridge Uni spinout is using AI to find new treatments"},"content":{"rendered":"<div id=\"ez-toc-container\" class=\"ez-toc-v2_0_84 counter-hierarchy ez-toc-counter ez-toc-custom ez-toc-container-direction\">\n<p class=\"ez-toc-title\" style=\"cursor:inherit\">Table of Contents<\/p>\n<label for=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a22f2d834652\" class=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-label\"><span class=\"\"><span class=\"eztoc-hide\" style=\"display:none;\">Toggle<\/span><span class=\"ez-toc-icon-toggle-span\"><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" class=\"list-377408\" width=\"20px\" height=\"20px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" fill=\"none\"><path d=\"M6 6H4v2h2V6zm14 0H8v2h12V6zM4 11h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2zM4 16h2v2H4v-2zm16 0H8v2h12v-2z\" fill=\"currentColor\"><\/path><\/svg><svg style=\"fill: #dd3333;color:#dd3333\" class=\"arrow-unsorted-368013\" xmlns=\"http:\/\/www.w3.org\/2000\/svg\" width=\"10px\" height=\"10px\" viewBox=\"0 0 24 24\" version=\"1.2\" baseProfile=\"tiny\"><path d=\"M18.2 9.3l-6.2-6.3-6.2 6.3c-.2.2-.3.4-.3.7s.1.5.3.7c.2.2.4.3.7.3h11c.3 0 .5-.1.7-.3.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7zM5.8 14.7l6.2 6.3 6.2-6.3c.2-.2.3-.5.3-.7s-.1-.5-.3-.7c-.2-.2-.4-.3-.7-.3h-11c-.3 0-.5.1-.7.3-.2.2-.3.5-.3.7s.1.5.3.7z\"\/><\/svg><\/span><\/span><\/label><input type=\"checkbox\"  id=\"ez-toc-cssicon-toggle-item-6a22f2d834652\" checked aria-label=\"Toggle\" \/><nav><ul class='ez-toc-list ez-toc-list-level-1 ' ><li class='ez-toc-page-1 ez-toc-heading-level-2'><a class=\"ez-toc-link ez-toc-heading-1\" href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/heart-disease-is-the-worlds-biggest-killer-this-cambridge-uni-spinout-is-using-ai-to-find-new-treatments\/#Heart_of_the_problem\" >Heart of the problem<\/a><\/li><\/ul><\/nav><\/div>\n<div>\n<p id=\"speakable-summary\" class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While artificial intelligence (AI) promises to transform all manner of industries, the biggest <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/game\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"7\" title=\"Game\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">game<\/a>-changing breakthroughs in this new era of data-infused machine intelligence arguably lies in <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.newyorker.com\/magazine\/2024\/09\/09\/how-machines-learned-to-discover-drugs\">the field of drug discovery<\/a>. By analyzing vast amounts of biological data, AI can help researchers predict how different chemical compounds will interact with specific targets in the body, accelerating the discovery of promising drug candidates.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">It\u2019s against this backdrop that Cambridge University spinout <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.cardiatec.ai\/\">CardiaTec<\/a> is striving to tackle cardiovascular diseases (CVD). To bolster its efforts, the company today said it has raised $6.5 million in a seed round of funding.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CVDs are the preeminent cause of death globally, resulting in 17.9 million deaths each year, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/health-topics\/cardiovascular-diseases#tab=tab_1\">according to<\/a> The World Health Organization (WHO). At the top of <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.who.int\/news-room\/fact-sheets\/detail\/the-top-10-causes-of-death\">the list<\/a> is ischaemic heart disease (coronary heart disease), responsible for 13% of the world\u2019s total deaths.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Founded in 2021, CardiaTec is the handiwork of biotech and bioengineering graduates <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/raphael-l-peralta\/\">Raphael Peralta<\/a> (CEO) and <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/thelma-zablocki\/\">Thelma Zablocki<\/a> (COO). They\u2019re supported by their third co-founder and CTO, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.linkedin.com\/in\/namshik\">Namshik Han<\/a>, a lecturer in AI drug discovery at the University of Cambridge, where Peralta and Zablocki studied for an MPhil in Bio<a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/sciencee\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"5\" title=\"Science\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">science<\/a> Enterprise. Han, who has a background in machine learning, computational biology, cancer genomics, and cancer epigenomics, is also head of AI at the university\u2019s <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.milner.cam.ac.uk\/\">Milner Therapeutics Institute<\/a>, which forges close ties with industry, including pharmaceutical companies.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHe (Han) is an academic who sits on the border with industry, so he understands that translational perspective,\u201d Peralta told TechCrunch in an interview. \u201cWe came together with the opportunity to use Namshik\u2019s work, but within the cardiovascular space.\u201d <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CardiaTec is tackling the crux of the problem: The average expense of progressing a drug candidate from discovery through launch is around $2.2 billion, and that cost is driven substantively by the fact that 90% of potential candidates fail in the process, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www2.deloitte.com\/content\/dam\/Deloitte\/it\/Documents\/life-sciences-health-care\/deloitte-measuring-return-from-pharmaceutical-innovation-2024.pdf\">according to Deloitte<\/a>. CardiaTec is setting out to \u201cdecode\u201d the biology of CVDs. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">To do this, the company has struck partnerships with 65 hospitals across the U.K. and the U.S., which are providing human heart tissue as part of the company\u2019s broader data collection efforts, which will help it build what it calls the \u201clargest human heart tissue-multi-omics dataset,\u201d spanning a broad gamut of biological information from across molecular biology. By doing this, CardiaTec hopes to identify novel, targeted therapeutics.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cHistorically, it\u2019s been very difficult to access human tissue, especially those of deceased people because of matters related to consent, ethics, and logistics,\u201d Peralta said. \u201cNow the infrastructure in hospitals is much more embedded, and we can actually begin to get access to these human tissues and generate data.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">In the context of cardiovascular disease, this means that CardiaTec can compare healthy artery tissue with that of an artery where plaque buildup has led to a heart attack, and generate the data its computational models need further downstream. Such computational <a href=\"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/category\/download-scripts-themes-apps\/\" data-internallinksmanager029f6b8e52c=\"9\" title=\"Download Scripts &amp; Themes &amp; Apps\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">app<\/a>roaches, involving a vast amount of different \u201cmulti-omics\u201d data types, are capable of aggregating and analyzing data at a scale humans simply can\u2019t match. <\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cWe can now look not just in genetics, but we can look at genetics, epigenetics, gene expression, protein function, all in a single model,\u201d Peralta said. \u201cSo we have a much more in depth understanding of the mechanisms that are driving disease.\u201d<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image aligncenter size-large is-resized\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1000\" height=\"1000\" src=\"https:\/\/cardiatec.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rafael-funny.jpg\" data-event=\"clickable_image\" alt=\"CardiaTec co-founder and CEO Raphael Peralta\" class=\"wp-image-2850756\" style=\"width:414px;height:auto\" srcset=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rafael-funny.jpg 1000w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rafael-funny.jpg?resize=150,150 150w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rafael-funny.jpg?resize=300,300 300w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rafael-funny.jpg?resize=768,768 768w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rafael-funny.jpg?resize=680,680 680w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rafael-funny.jpg?resize=430,430 430w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rafael-funny.jpg?resize=720,720 720w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rafael-funny.jpg?resize=900,900 900w, https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/rafael-funny.jpg?resize=800,800 800w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1000px) 100vw, 1000px\"\/><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\">CardiaTec co-founder and CEO Raphael Peralta<\/figcaption><figcaption class=\"wp-element-caption\"><strong>Image Credits:<\/strong> <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/cardiatec.ai\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/07\/rafael-funny.jpg\">CardiaTec <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">(opens in a new window)<\/span><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\" id=\"h-heart-of-the-problem\"><span class=\"ez-toc-section\" id=\"Heart_of_the_problem\"><\/span>Heart of the problem<span class=\"ez-toc-section-end\"><\/span><\/h2>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">While drugs made with help from AI have yet to make it to market, the early promise has created a wave of excitement and a swathe of startups have raised bucketloads of cash in the process. In the past few months alone, we\u2019ve seen the likes of Xaira emerge from stealth with $1 billion in funding, while Sam Altman-backed Formation Bio raised $372 million. In the U.K., meanwhile, Healx has nabbed $47 million to identify new drugs for rare diseases.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Heavily VC-backed pharmaceutical startup <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/insilico.com\/\">Insilico Medicine<\/a> recently claimed <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.technologyreview.com\/2024\/03\/20\/1089939\/a-wave-of-drugs-dreamed-up-by-ai-is-on-its-way\/\">a world\u2019s first<\/a> when it <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nature.com\/articles\/s41587-024-02143-0\">announced<\/a> that it had identified a new drug candidate for a rare lung disease called <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.nhlbi.nih.gov\/health\/idiopathic-pulmonary-fibrosis\">idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis<\/a>. AI played a pivotal role not only in designing the drug\u2019s chemical structure, but in figuring out which part of a cell it should be targeting. The drug was initially tested in animals, and is currently in \u201cPhase II\u201d trials in the U.S. and China, where it\u2019s hoped it will generate the evidence needed to establish its efficacy in treating humans.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Elsewhere, AI is being used to help discover <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.theguardian.com\/technology\/2023\/may\/25\/artificial-intelligence-antibiotic-deadly-superbug-hospital\">everything from new antibiotics<\/a> for tackling superbugs, to drugs for <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.vox.com\/2020\/1\/31\/21117102\/artificial-intelligence-drug-discovery-exscientia\">treating obsessive compulsive order<\/a> (OCD).<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">Citing data from peer-reviewed journal <em><a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Nature_Reviews_Drug_Discovery\">Nature Reviews Drug Discovery<\/a><\/em>, Peralta said one of CardiaTec\u2019s main differentiators is that its focus lies squarely on cardiovascular disease, which only 3% of active AI-first companies are targeting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">\u201cThe majority of companies who are applying AI in therapeutic discovery are in oncology, followed by central nervous systems and neurogenic diseases, respiratory and infectious diseases, and then way at the bottom of the list is cardiovascular diseases,\u201d Peralta said. \u201cCardiovascular disease is the world\u2019s leading global cause of death \u2014 not a lot of people know that, but there\u2019s a big unmet need that hasn\u2019t been captured in pharma.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CardiaTec had previously <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/www.enterprise.cam.ac.uk\/news\/cambridge-enterprise-joins-1-4m-pre-seed-round-for-cardiatec\/\">raised $1.8 million<\/a> in pre-seed funding, and with this fresh $6.5 million in cash, the company is well-financed to extend its proprietary data gathering efforts, <a rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\" href=\"https:\/\/en.wikipedia.org\/wiki\/Wet_lab\">wet lab<\/a> validation of its therapeutic targets model, and bolster its eight-person team in Cambridge. The next step is to start identifying and testing actual drug candidates, which \u2014 in the grand scheme of drug R&amp;D \u2014 is likely to be several years away.<\/p>\n<p class=\"wp-block-paragraph\">CardiaTec\u2019s seed round was led by Montage Ventures, with participation from Continuum Health Ventures, Laidlaw Ventures, Apex Ventures, and a number of angel investors. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<blockquote><p><strong><span style=\"color: #ff6600;\">If you liked the article, do not forget to share it with your friends. Follow us on\u00a0<span style=\"color: #ff0000;\"><a style=\"color: #ff0000;\" href=\"https:\/\/news.google.com\/publications\/CAAqBwgKMN63nwsw68G3Aw\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"nofollow noopener noreferrer\">Google News<\/a><\/span>\u00a0too, click on the star and choose us from your favorites.<\/span><\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\n<blockquote>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong>If you want to read more like this article, you can visit our <span style=\"color: #ff9900;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/en.buradabiliyorum.com\/technology\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Technology<\/a><\/span> category.<\/strong><\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<p><span style=\"color: black;\"><a style=\"color: #ff9900;\" href=\"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/2024\/09\/09\/heart-disease-is-the-worlds-biggest-killer-this-cambridge-uni-spinout-is-using-ai-to-find-new-treatments\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Source<\/a><\/span><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>While artificial intelligence (AI) promises to transform all manner of industries, the biggest game-changing breakthroughs in this new era of data-infused machine intelligence arguably lies in the field of drug discovery. By analyzing vast amounts of biological data, AI can help researchers predict how different chemical compounds will interact with specific targets in the body,&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":635296,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/techcrunch.com\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/09\/CardiaTec-Founders-e1725610925790.jpg?resize=1200,676","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[18],"tags":[77337,151734,151516,151735,74839,75488,70917],"class_list":["post-635295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-technology","tag-ai","tag-ai-drug-discovery","tag-biotech-health","tag-cardiatec","tag-fundraising","tag-heart-disease","tag-startups"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=635295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/635295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/635296"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=635295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=635295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/buradabiliyorum.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=635295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}