Geneva, Switzerland, November 24, 2021 – RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA (SIX: RLF, OTCQB: RLFTF, RLFTY) (“Relief”), announced today that it has signed a collaboration agreement (the “Collaboration”) with InveniAI LLC (“InveniAI”), a U.S. based company that has pioneered the application of artificial intelligence and machine learning across biopharma and other industries, in order to identify promising drug candidates to treat rare and specialty diseases.
Under the terms of the Collaboration, InveniAI will use its proprietary platform for the identification of potential pharmaceutical product opportunities using its Pharma Big Data Innovation Lab (“Platform”), consisting of (i) its proprietary AlphaMeld® platform, a cloud-based Artificial Intelligence (“AI”) platform that utilizes proprietary machine learning and deep learning-based neural networks to identify product opportunities in therapeutic areas, (ii) its cross-functional teams at its Integrated Center of Excellence, and (iii) domain expertise, to generate novel pharmaceutical opportunities and the related development pathway for the development of such concepts.
In the Collaboration, it is expected that InveniAI will utilize its Platform to navigate the volume of data for all regulatory agency approved drugs and their associated active ingredients (Active Pharmaceutical Ingredient (“API”)) to identify potential rare and specialty disease indications for development and commercialization by Relief (“Product Concepts”). InveniAI will seek to prioritize top Product Concepts, associated diseases, scientific packages, and evidence to support the potential drug development opportunities by Relief. Relief anticipates InveniAI’s Platform will complement its wholly-owned subsidiary APR Applied Pharma Research SA’s existing capabilities in research and development and drug reformulation. Based on product leads developed by InveniAI, Relief hopes to develop proprietary versions of existing drugs and to protect those drugs with long-lived intellectual property and defensible patent claims.
Under the terms of the Collaboration, Relief will pay InveniAI an initial up-front fee, success milestones, and commercialization royalties for the full development program. Additional financial details were not disclosed.
“We believe that the addition of InveniAI’s AI-powered capabilities will meaningfully complement our existing drug development efforts. AI is becoming an increasingly important tool in identifying and screening new drug projects and Relief intends to fully leverage this promising technology,” stated Raghuram (Ram) Selvaraju, Chairman of Relief. “In partnering with InveniAI, we are accessing decades’ worth of expertise which has already led to successful drug re-innovation (e.g., vilazodone for treatment of depression and dexmedetomidine for treatment of agitation) and a proven platform that has been the basis of multiple partnerships with established companies. We believe that our work with InveniAI could generate multiple promising additions to our pipeline that may represent capital-efficient, cost-effective, and risk-mitigated approaches to product development. In focusing on the optimization of existing approved APIs, we hope to ensure well-established clinical safety and tolerability for the product concepts identified at inception, giving us a running start in pursuing the development of novel uses for these drugs. In our view, this approach will enable us to rapidly and efficiently execute innovation that brings relief to patients suffering from severe and debilitating conditions.”
ABOUT RELIEF
Relief focuses primarily on clinical-stage programs based on molecules with a history of clinical testing and uses in human patients or a strong scientific rationale. Relief’s drug candidate, RLF-100™ (aviptadil), a synthetic form of Vasoactive Intestinal Peptide (VIP), is in late-stage clinical testing in the U.S. for the treatment of respiratory deficiency due to COVID-19. As part of its pipeline diversification strategy, in March 2021, Relief entered into a Collaboration and License Agreement with Acer Therapeutics for the worldwide development and commercialization of ACER-001. ACER-001 is a taste-masked and immediate-release proprietary powder formulation of sodium phenylbutyrate (NaPB) for the treatment of Urea Cycle Disorders and Maple Syrup Urine Disease. In addition, Relief’s recently completed acquisitions of APR Applied Pharma Research SA and AdVita Lifescience GmbH bring to Relief a diverse pipeline of marketed and development-stage programs.
RELIEF THERAPEUTICS Holding SA is listed on the SIX Swiss Exchange under the symbol RLF and quoted in the U.S. on OTCQB under the symbol RLFTF. For more information, visit www.relieftherapeutics.com. Follow us on LinkedIn.
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Jack Weinstein
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