MAbsilico provides all organisations involved in drug research with artificial intelligence tools that bring the discovery phase of therapeutic antibodies down to a few days or weeks.
First of all, the company receives the DNA sequence or the protein, and then models this antibody in 3D. It studies its behaviour in relation to a therapeutic target to give guidance to clients in making their choice. The second step is to modify the sequence of the antibody, the design of this protein, by computer. This makes it possible to modulate different parameters: where the antibody clings to the protein target, the form of interaction between these two entities and the bioproduction parameters (levels of antibody stability, aggregation, etc.). The sequences designed in this way are given to customers who go back to the laboratory to validate the models. If the results are conclusive, the drug candidate moves into preclinical and clinical trials.
Recently, MAbSilico worked with OSE Immunotherapeutics, a biotechnology company that develops immunotherapies. “The modelling took two weeks for CoVepiT. It would have taken a year in the laboratory,” says Vincent Puard, CEO of MAbSilico.
“We need to see the discovery of a therapeutic antibody as a funnel. This implies millions of possibilities at first. By computer simulation, we reduce them to a few dozen,” says Vincent Puard, CEO of MAbSilico.
The French deeptech company sells its solutions and works with both biotech start-ups and academic and pharmaceutical laboratories. The covid health crisis encouraged its growth. Created in late 2017, it increased its employees from one to fifteen between March 2020 and today.
From the outset, MAbSilico has been internationally oriented. It generates half of its turnover outside France. Thanks to its partnership with Wichita State University, Kansas, it was nominated for the Prix Galien Medstartup in the category, “Best cooperation in the biological pharmaceutical industry”. The study focuses on characterising drug candidates to modulate FSH, a key reproductive hormone used to induce oocyte and sperm production in medically assisted reproductive protocols.
