Kapoose Creek Bio, a Vancouver-based biotechnology company leveraging AI for drug discovery from nature, announced the identification and advancement of two lead compounds with exciting potential in neurology, spanning indications in neurodegeneration and mental health.
VANCOUVER, BC, May 30, 2024 /CNW/ - Kapoose Creek Bio, a Vancouver-based biotechnology company leveraging AI for drug discovery from nature, today announced the identification and advancement of two lead compounds with exciting potential in neurology, spanning indications in neurodegeneration and mental health. The company is currently optimizing the compounds for human dosing, with the aim of producing a Drug Candidate for preclinical development in the coming months.
The advancement of these lead compounds marks the company’s remarkable progress just one year after announcing its decision to prioritize drug discovery. It also validates the efficiency of Kapoose Creek Bio’s AI-powered technology platform, unEarth Rx, purpose-built to accelerate the discovery of promising drug leads from nature, and reduce the long and expensive process of bringing a drug to market.
“We are beyond excited about the advancement of these two new compounds, both of which have shown potent neuroplastic and neuroprotective activity in gold-standard tests of primary neurons,” said Dr. Eric Brown, CEO, Kapoose Creek Bio. “Having established these leads, we are proceeding to leverage our unEarth Rx platform for the creation of assets for clinical development and collaborations with pharma partners.”
The two lead compounds – KCB-100 and KCB-200 – are derived from Kapoose Creek Bio’s proprietary collection of cultured and preserved fungi, isolated largely from the biodiverse ecosystem of the Kapoose Creek rainforest on Vancouver Island, a unique swath of land untouched during the last ice age. The company recently reached a milestone of more than 5,000 atypical specimens of macrofungi in its collection, representing an extraordinary reservoir of novel and diverse chemical matter for pioneering drug discovery.
“Our team has leveraged the work of evolution spanning hundreds of millions of years to find potent and selective compounds for optimization in an accelerated timeframe,” says Dr. Brown. “It’s often said that nature makes the best medicines. We are using AI technologies to uncover small molecule medicines from nature with unprecedented speed and scale. We are on track to build a portfolio of stakes in the next generation of medicines where the market opportunity exceeds $50 billion.”
Kapoose Creek Bio recently added two world-leading experts in drug discovery and AI to its team of scientific advisors: Dr. André Brown, a Group Leader and Medical Research Council Investigator at the London Institute of Medical Sciences and pioneer in experimental analysis of animal behaviour; and Dr. Jonathan Stokes, an Assistant Professor at McMaster University and a rising star in the fast-moving field of AI-enabled drug discovery. Dr. Brown and Dr. Stokes join a team of accomplished mycologists, researchers, and biotechnology experts, and underscore the company’s commitment to building a world-leading platform at the intersection of AI and biomedicine.
The company also recently announced additional funding from shareholders, with $4.3 million secured through debenture financing. The funds will fuel Kapoose Creek Bio’s continued drug discovery efforts and provide a runway to bring its assets to the clinic.
“We are thrilled at this momentum towards discovering the next generation of medicines that are hidden in nature,” said Dr. Brown. “With identification of the two lead compounds, a strong leadership team and additional funding towards R&D, we are more committed than ever to growth and value creation.”
Kapoose Creek Bio is a private company based in Vancouver, British Columbia. For more information, visit www.kapoosecreekbio.com.
For further information:
INVESTOR CONTACT:
Eric Brown
CEO, Kapoose Creek Bio
Eric@kapoosecreek.com
905-339-9140
MEDIA CONTACT:
Francine Beck
FGS Longview
Francine.beck@fgslongview.com
416-725-3710
SOURCE Kapoose Creek Bio