Curi Bio acquires Dana Solutions to boost drug discovery platforms

Curi Bio, a developer of human iPSC-based platforms for drug discovery, has acquired Dana Solutions, a provider of artificial intelligence and machine learning technologies for in vitro cell-based assays.

Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed by the parties.

Curi Bio, through the acquisition, will get access to Dana Solutions’ artificial intelligence and machine learning-based platforms, that include PhenoLearn, a deep learning platform designed for modeling cell and tissue phenotypes, an automated platform called Pulse for contractility analysis of beating cardiomyocytes, and PhenoTox, which is a deep learning platform for predictive safety pharmacology.

Commenting on Curi Bio acquisition of Dana Solutions, Michael Cho – CEO of Curi Bio, said: “Curi Bio is developing human-relevant platforms integrating human cells, systems, and data to accelerate the discovery of new medicines.

“With the acquisition of Dana’s AI/ML technologies for cell-based assays, Curi is now uniquely positioned to offer pharmaceutical companies an integrated platform leveraging predictive human iPSC-derived cells, tissue-specific biosystems, and AI/ML-enabled phenotypic data insights.”

According to Curi Bio, its human iPSC-based platforms enable drug developers to build predictive and mature human iPSC tissues, particularly for the discovery, and testing of safety and efficacy of new therapeutics with a focus on cardiac, skeletal muscle, and neuromuscular disease models.

Curi Bio said that it is looking to de-risk and fast track the development of new drugs by offering human-relevant preclinical data and reducing the dependence of the pharma industry on animal models, which do not often translate to humans.

Dana Solutions, through a partnership with the US Health and Environmental Sciences Institute (HESI), had in the past secured funding from the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) for validating PhenoTox for the predictive evaluation of drug-induced structural cardiac toxicity.

Curi Bio and Dana Solutions will continue the FDA project after the acquisition with the former’s SaaS platforms to continue to operate until the expiration of existing contracts with customers.

Dr. Nicholas Geisse – Curi Bio Chief Science Officer, commenting on Curi Bio acquisition of Dana Solutions, said: “We are building best-in-class models of human diseases using human iPSC-derived cells and physiologically-relevant biosystems. With Dana’s deep learning tools, now we can apply AI/ML-based phenotypic screening to our models to detect patterns in multidimensional phenotypic data at scale.”

By integrating Curi’s existing portfolio of human iPSC technology products with Dana’s PhenoLearn™ and PhenoTox™ deep learning platforms, Curi aims to help pharma customers bring safer, more effective medicines to market in less time, at lower cost.

The detailed terms of the transaction were not disclosed.