London-based Ignota Labs, an AI-driven drug turnaround company, has secured $6.9 million in seed funding, co-led by Montage Ventures and AIX Ventures. The funds will be used to expand the pipeline by acquiring additional distressed assets and advancing their first asset, a PDE9A inhibitor, into early-stage clinical trials.
- Founded in 2021 by Layla Hosseini-Gerami, Sam Windsor, and Jordan Lane, Ignota Labs specializes in rescuing promising drugs halted due to safety concerns, particularly those 80-90% of the way to success.
- The company's platform, SAFEPATH, uses deep learning to pinpoint the causes of drug toxicity, explaining why and how safety issues arise and enabling the refinement or repurposing of drug candidates.
- The platform combines data from chemistry, biology, and other sources to improve safety and accelerate development. By acquiring distressed assets and addressing safety issues, the company speeds up its path to market, using AI to reduce costs and partner on high-potential therapies.
- In just two years, Ignota Labs has licensed its first asset, a metabolic health drug with the potential to benefit over 1.2 billion post-menopausal women.
Details of the deal
- The funding round was co-led by Montage Ventures, a California-based VC, and AIX Ventures, a San Francisco VC that supports pre-seed and seed-stage startups, with participation from Houston-based Modi Ventures, London-based Blue Wire Capital, and Gaingels.
“Their SAFEPATH platform represents a groundbreaking approach, combining cutting-edge AI with deep scientific expertise to address the root causes of drug toxicity. We believe Ignota Labs has the ability to enable more drugs to make it to the clinic and get to the patients who need them," claims Todd Kimmel, Founder and Managing Partner of Montage Ventures.
- The funding will enable Ignota Labs to expand its pipeline by acquiring more distressed assets and advancing its first asset, a PDE9A inhibitor, into early-stage trials.
- Additionally, it will support further development of the SAFEPATH platform to address safety issues in drug candidates, speeding up the path to market and reducing costs.
“Traditional safety assessments reveal when something is wrong, but our platform goes a step further by identifying the exact molecular and biological issues to provide actionable insights to re-engineer and revive therapies. With this funding, we can expand our efforts to salvage distressed assets and accelerate the delivery of life-saving therapies to patients," co-founder and CEO of Ignota Labs, Sam Windsor, commented.
