While artificial intelligence (AI) holds the potential to revolutionize numerous industries, one of the most significant breakthroughs is occurring in the realm of drug discovery. By sifting through extensive biological datasets, AI helps researchers anticipate how various chemical compounds interact with specific targets in the body, expediting the identification of promising drug candidates.
In this context, CardiaTec, a spinout from Cambridge University, is focused on combating cardiovascular diseases (CVD). To enhance its mission, the company has announced a successful $6.5 million seed funding round.
CVD is the leading cause of death worldwide, accounting for 17.9 million fatalities annually, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Ischemic heart disease, a form of coronary heart disease, ranks as the top contributor, responsible for 13% of global deaths.
Founded in 2021 by biotech and bioengineering graduates Raphael Peralta (CEO) and Thelma Zablocki (COO), CardiaTec is guided by their third co-founder and CTO, Namshik Han, who teaches AI drug discovery at the University of Cambridge. Peralta and Zablocki earned their Master of Philosophy in Bioscience Enterprise at Cambridge, where Han's expertise spans machine learning, computational biology, cancer genomics, and cancer epigenomics. Additionally, he serves as head of AI at the Milner Therapeutics Institute, fostering the connection between academia and industry, including pharmaceutical companies.
"Namshik straddles academia and industry, giving him insights from both sides," Peralta shared in an interview. "We united our efforts to leverage his work specifically for the cardiovascular sector."
CardiaTec is addressing a major challenge in drug development: the average cost of moving a drug candidate from discovery to launch is approximately $2.2 billion, largely due to the fact that 90% of candidates fail along the way, as reported by Deloitte. The company aims to "decode" the biology underlying CVD.
To achieve this goal, CardiaTec has forged partnerships with 65 hospitals across the U.K. and the U.S., which supply human heart tissue as part of a comprehensive data collection initiative. This effort aims to create what CardiaTec calls the "largest human heart tissue multi-omics dataset," encompassing a wide range of biological information. By doing so, the company hopes to discover new, targeted therapeutics.
“Historically, accessing human tissue, especially from deceased individuals, has been challenging due to consent and ethical concerns,” Peralta noted. “However, advancements in hospital infrastructure now allow us to access these tissues and generate valuable data.”
In the context of cardiovascular diseases, CardiaTec can analyze and compare healthy arterial tissue against that affected by plaque buildup, leading to heart attacks. This comparison provides the data required for more sophisticated computational models. These approaches, which use diverse "multi-omics" data types, enable analysis at an unprecedented scale.
"We can now examine not just genetic factors but also epigenetics, gene expression, and protein function within a single model," Peralta explained. "This gives us a much deeper understanding of the mechanisms driving disease."
While no drugs powered by AI have reached the market yet, early results have sparked excitement, resulting in a surge of funding for various startups. Recently, Xaira emerged from stealth mode with $1 billion in funding, while Formation Bio, backed by Sam Altman, raised $372 million. Likewise, Healx secured $47 million to uncover new treatments for rare diseases.
Prominently, the VC-backed firm Insilico Medicine claimed a groundbreaking achievement by identifying a new drug candidate for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a rare lung disease. AI was instrumental not only in shaping the drug's chemical structure but also in determining its cellular target. After successful animal testing, this candidate is now in "Phase II" trials in the U.S. and China, where it aims to provide evidence of its efficacy in treating humans.
AI is being employed to discover various types of drugs, from new antibiotics to treatments for obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD).
Peralta emphasizes that one of CardiaTec’s key differentiators is its exclusive focus on cardiovascular disease—a niche that only 3% of AI-centric companies target.
"The bulk of companies utilizing AI in drug discovery are concentrated on oncology and related fields, while cardiovascular disease remains severely underserved,” he said. "It’s the leading global cause of death, yet there’s a considerable unmet need in pharmaceuticals."
Having previously raised $1.8 million in pre-seed funding, CardiaTec is now equipped with an additional $6.5 million to expand its data collection efforts, validate its therapeutic target model in wet labs, and grow its team of eight in Cambridge. The next steps involve identifying and testing actual drug candidates, a process expected to span several years.
Montage Ventures led CardiaTec's seed round, with contributions from Continuum Health Ventures, Laidlaw Ventures, Apex Ventures, and various angel investors.
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