Two weeks ago, we shared our work on AI agents for drug repurposing. Today, we're excited to share that one of our drug repurposing candidates is undergoing preclinical testing in partnership with Alliance to Cure Cavernous Malformation.
Cerebral cavernous malformations (CCMs) are abnormal clusters of blood vessels in the brain. These clusters slow blood flow and often leak blood, causing seizures, strokes, and other neurological deficits.
Roughly 18 to 24 million people globally have at least one cavernous malformation in their brain, and around 25% of diagnosed patients are children. Currently, there is no approved cure. Surgery to cut out the malformation is often infeasible as its location in the brain is too difficult to reach, and the treatments that do exist are strictly palliative.
We pointed our system of biomedical AI research agents at CCM and found a novel drug repurposing candidate. The drug has been approved by the FDA and sits on pharmacy shelves right now but for a different disease with an entirely different mechanistic basis. Beyond FDA approval in its indication, the safety of the drug has been proven in humans for over a decade. We're excited by the possibility of repurposing this drug for CCM in partnership with Alliance to Cure Cavernous Malformation.
Over the last 20 years, Alliance to Cure has developed a patient network of tens of thousands of patients, a biobank of patient samples, three natural history databases, 22 clinical center partnerships, and their own cell lines and mouse models. Moreover, Connie and Angela bring deep scientific expertise and passion for curing CCM as Chief Executive Officer and Chief Scientific Officer.
This partnership is a prime example of how AI can revolutionize medicine and the kind of work we care most about at Atlas Discovery. We've built autonomous biomedical research agents that can understand disease, generate drug hypotheses, use scientific tools and models, design experiments, and learn from their results.
"We're excited about the potential of our partnership with Atlas Discovery to dramatically speed up the path to real treatments for our patients," said Connie Lee, CEO of Alliance to Cure. "By combining their AI technology with our industry-dedicated pre-clinical testing resources, we can move faster than ever before to help people living with this often devastating condition."