Belgian biotech Sightera Biosciences has secured €3 million in pre-seed funding to advance its innovative AI drug discovery platform, which uniquely focuses on learning from treatment-resistant patients.
Sightera's approach diverges from conventional AI drug discovery methods by starting with data from patients who do not respond to standard treatments. This "extreme biology" strategy involves creating organoids from these patients' tissues and conducting high-throughput drug screenings to gather insights on resistance mechanisms. The company then employs AI to design novel therapeutic molecules based on these findings, effectively reversing the traditional drug development paradigm.
The funding raised will primarily support the progression of Sightera's lead program, SIGHT001, aimed at selecting preclinical candidates within the oncology space. Co-founders Hendrik Vercammen and Maxim Le Compte, both with strong academic and research backgrounds, emphasize that their methodology allows biology to inform AI, rather than the other way around.
This funding round is particularly noteworthy as it includes investment from Entourage, a firm typically focused on B2B software, illustrating a growing interest in innovative biotech strategies. As the pharmaceutical industry faces challenges with traditional drug development costs and timelines, Sightera's patient-centric model could represent a significant shift in how new therapies are developed, especially in the oncology sector.