OCT announces exclusive Joint Development Agreement with ex- Google AI experts, Hypatia AI to develop an AI-enabled asset toscale its drug discovery pipeline
London, 4 November 2024 – Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies (“OCT” or “the Company”) is pleased to announce the successful completion of 'proof of concept' of its AI-enabled drug discovery asset, which it is developing in collaboration with New York-based tech consultancy, Hypatia AI (“Hypatia”).
Hypatia is developing a cutting-edge AI tool that will significantly accelerate OCT’s drug discovery process. By focusing on deep, rigorous insights from vast scientific literature, The asset acts as an endlessly resourceful research assistant ensuring OCT’s scientific team spends less time searching and more time discovering. This targeted, in-depth approach helps researchers to uncover connections and insights that might otherwise be missed. The asset amplifies OCT’s expertise, enabling its research team to link ideas and explore breakthrough possibilities to harness the therapeutic power of cannabinoids to develop non-addictive pain medications to reduce reliance on opioids, at unprecedented speed.
Focusing on OCT's proprietary and patent-protected library of over 500 modified cannabinoid derivatives, which are classed as new chemical entities (NCEs), the asset augments the literature search and review capabilities of the Company’s scientific team, taking advantage of large language models to build knowledge graphs and highlight connections across a vast and complex literature at unparalleled speed and scale.
Developed in exclusive collaboration with Hypatia, led by ex-Google engineer, David Gordon, the asset leverages AI language understanding to enhance and scale OCT’s scientists' literature-based research capabilities. The asset works to integrate AI at the outset of the research process—the inflexion point where a thorough, comprehensive review of existing literature can distinguish between chasing a flawed hypothesis or discovering a hidden breakthrough. By focusing on literature search and comprehension, it is possible to amplify researchers' ability to make connections, generate insights, and identify novel research areas—supporting OCT’s expertise and judgment. This collaboration aims to streamline and expedite the Company’s ability to identify potential drug candidates by enabling comprehensive analysis of over 30,000 scientific papers against its proprietary data.
Clarissa Sowemimo-Coker, Chief Executive Officer of OCT, said:
"I am very pleased to announce the successful development of this innovative asset that will fuel OCT’s future work and journey. We've been working closely with David Gordon's team at Hypatia for many months on what we believe to be a game-changer in our early-stage drug discovery work. We have a significant library of patent-protected NCEs, and this asset gives us the ability to interrogate that library much more quickly and efficiently than we could previously have done, helping us to generate discoveries more quickly and, in turn, bring into scope more early-stage outlicensing opportunities."
Dr Tim Corn, Chief Medical Officer of OCT, said:
"I’m thrilled about this collaboration. Our extensive library of NCE compounds has tremendous potential, and integrating AI at the outset of the research process will allow us to unlock that potential much faster and more efficiently than ever before.”
David Gordon, Founder of Hypatia AI, said:
"OCT has proven to be the perfect partner for developing our vision of a bespoke 'AI librarian'. While a lot of AI solutions seek to replace human labour, our vision is to take human insight and creativity and add leverage by providing exponentially better information retrieval than the previous generation of web-scale search was able to provide. The team at OCT naturally understood this hypothesis, having a complementary goal of enabling their talented researchers to unlock maximum value from their information assets. We're excited for our ongoing partnership as we bring the system to production."
Enquiries:
Acuitas Communications 020 3745 0293 / 07799 767676
Simon Nayyar simon.nayyar@acuitascomms.com
Jake Davis jake.davis@acuitascomms.com
About Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies:
OCT is the holding company of Oxford Cannabinoid Technologies Ltd and OCT Victoria Pty Ltd (together the "Group"), a pharmaceutical Group developing prescription cannabinoid medicines initially targeting the US$ multibillion global pain market.
OCT currently has a portfolio of four drug development programmes. Its lead compound, OCT461201, will initially target neuropathic and visceral pain (including diabetic peripheral neuropathy (“DPN”), irritable bowel syndrome ("IBS") and chemotherapy induced peripheral neuropathy ("CIPN"). The global market for DPN alone is currently US$2.9bn.
OCT's drug development pipeline comprises both natural and synthetic compounds, and includes compounds targeting trigeminal neuralgia, a severe type of face pain, and cannabinoid derivatives targeting pain and potentially other therapeutic areas. Having established an exclusive licence agreement with Canopy Growth Corporation for their entire pharmaceutical cannabinoid derivative library, OCT now has a portfolio of almost five hundred derivatives and intellectual property rights including fourteen patent families and associated research data.
OCT has a clearly defined path to commercialisation, revenues and growth. The Group is developing drug candidates through clinical trials to gain regulatory approval (FDA/MHRA/EMA) that will enable medical professionals to prescribe them with confidence. OCT's portfolio aims to balance risk, value and time to market, whilst ensuring market exclusivity around all its key activities.
About Hypatia AI:
Hypatia AI is a New York-based technology consultancy founded by David Gordon, former lead engineer of Google’s food and dining search experiences and Jack Binks, former CEO and co-founder of transformative planning & analytics platform Arithmix. Hypatia brings their combined expertise in data visualisation and webscale information retrieval together with innovations in AI to deliver a new approach to research automation, data mining and drug discovery.
Hypatia AI’s initial offering is an innovative AI platform designed to empower research teams with seamless access to scientific insights. Developed as a bespoke solution for advanced drug discovery applications, Hypatia enables research teams to explore connections, generate insights, and accelerate breakthroughs across extensive scientific literature. This powerful AI tool enhances research and development processes, supporting a rigorous scientific approach to uncovering hidden insights and advancing project goals with exceptional speed. Through its multidisciplinary expertise and commitment to innovation, Hypatia transforms data into actionable intelligence, fostering meaningful progress across sectors.