Noetik and Agenus Partner to Advance AI-Driven Personalized Cancer Treatment

Noetik and Agenus's Collaboration for Technological Development

Announcement

Noetik, a global AI-driven spatial and multimodal biology, and Agenus Inc., an immune-oncology innovation, introduced a research collaboration to generate predictive biomarkers of response to Agenus. This will lead to balstilimab (BAL, anti-PD-1), a clinical-stage immune-oncology (IO) combination, and botensilimab (BOT, multifunctional Fc-enhanced anti-CTLA-4). This collaboration will support Noetik’s virtual cell foundation models and multimodal tumor data. It will also help to discover insights into the biology of tumor immunology. These two leading companies will position Noetik’s models to produce clinical results directly to develop clinical efficacy.

Which AI Technology is Contributing to the Healthcare Market?

The approach to AI-powered virtual cell models has set this collaboration in motion. This technology identifies the patient's possibility of benefit from BOT/BAL treatment. The contribution to personalized cancer treatment is a prominent effort from both companies' end. The approach to this popular technology is bolstering the study and development.

Collaboration

The center of this collaboration is the Noetik OCTO virtual cell model, which is built on a foundation of a 1.5 billion parameter model and guided by the proprietary global multimodal spatial datasets. The dataset integrates spatial transcriptomics, DNA genotyping, spatial proteomics, clinical metadata, and H&E pathology from immune cells and 200 million tumor cells collected from patients suffering from cancers like sarcomas, colorectal cancer, ovarian cancers, and non-small cell lung cancer. The collaboration is focusing on an actionable biomarker that will analyze which patients are most likely to respond to BOT/BAL treatment.

The OCTO virtual cell models will recognize the tumor's behavior in the body, and Noetik will identify intricate biological data from several cancer types. This collaboration’s goal is to analyze patterns that will classify the beneficial patient group and predict treatment results. Whereas Agenus has the right to utilize these insights in its commercialization and drug development.

Views and Statements

MD, Phd, CEO and Co-founder, Noetik, Ron Alfa said, “The enhancement to clinical efficacy is a hurdle to generating new medicines and evaluating the training of companies' foundation model. The company is thrilled to position Noetik’s virtual cell foundation model in Agenus clinical data, which will accelerate patient therapeutic response, enhance trial outcomes, and provide accurate therapies.”

Chairman and CEO of Agenus, Dr. Garo Armen, said, “Agenus is committed to transforming cancer care through next-generation immunotherapies and scientific innovation. The collaboration with Noetik will provide Agenus a exposure to AI for understanding properly tailored treatment and patient biology. Further, the merger of Noetik’s virtual cell models and our BOT/BAL clinical dataset will leverage the analysis of predictive biomarkers and the success of the company’s pivotal trials. The intention is to provide effective treatment to patients who have no other option.”