PsychoGenics Inc. has launched eCube, a pharmaco-electroencephalography (pharmacoEEG) platform to support phenotypic drug discovery.
The company said that unlike traditional target-based drug discovery, this technique can identify novel treatments with multiple targets.
Similar to the company’s AI-enabled, behavior-based platform, SmartCube, eCube harnesses machine learning to identify central nervous system (CNS) penetrant compounds and predict their therapeutic applications for neuropsychiatric disorders by comparing their EEG profiles to a pharmacoEEG database comprised of hundreds of doses of CNS-active reference drugs.
eCube measures drug-induced changes to EEG spectra data and utilizes machine learning classifiers trained on reference drugs to predict the efficacy of novel compounds at the drug class (primary therapeutic indication) and subclass (primary mechanism of action) levels.
In addition to predicting therapeutic applications for novel compounds, eCube can deliver translational biomarkers, providing an objective way to assess CNS activity, which is particularly important for compounds with unknown or complex mechanisms of action.
“The eCube platform joins PsychoGenics’ innovative class of AI-enabled phenotypic platforms, including SmartCube, which has helped advance numerous compounds to clinical trials, including Ulotaront. Discovered in partnership with Sunovion, Ulotaront is now in phase 3 for schizophrenia, as well as depression and generalized anxiety disorder,” said Emer Leahy, CEO, PsychoGenics.
“eCube is another important discovery tool helping bring novel treatments to patients suffering from severely disabling conditions.”
“The introduction of eCube provides a truly unique translational tool for target-agnostic compound screening and lead generation. Our reference EEG databases and analytical machine learning tools not only allow us to predict therapeutic efficacy, but also to quantify the similarity of EEG spectra to other CNS drugs,” added Dani Brunner, chief innovation officer, PsychoGenics.
“This powerful platform can confirm the therapeutic predictions from our behavior-based platforms, identify neuronal circuitry and provide translational biomarkers to support clinical development.”
About PsychoGenics
PsychoGenics Inc. and its discovery arm, PGI Drug Discovery LLC, have pioneered the translation of rodent behavioral and physiological responses into robust, high-throughput and high-content phenotyping. PsychoGenics’ drug discovery platforms SmartCube, NeuroCube, and PhenoCube have been used in shared-risk partnerships with pharmaceutical companies including Sunovion, Roche and Karuna, resulting in the discovery of several novel compounds now in clinical trials or advanced preclinical development.
PsychoGenics’ capabilities also include standard behavioral testing, electrophysiology, translational EEG, molecular biology, microdialysis and quantitative immunohistochemistry, and, now, eCube. The company also offers in-licensed transgenic mouse models that support research in areas such as Huntington’s disease, autism spectrum disorders, psychosis/schizophrenia, depression, PTSD, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, muscular dystrophy, ALS and seizure disorders.
PsychoGenics featured recently in Labiotech’s feature on women in biotech.