Axl/merTK target assessment for an AI-driven drug discovery company

Challenge:

An AI-driven drug discovery company requested an expert third party assessment of the attractiveness and risks of a particular discovery strategy focused on a dual tyrosine kinase inhibitor. There had only been a few competing projects targeting the same two kinases, and there were indications of class-specific toxicity associated with one of the kinases.

Solution:

A specialist translational oncologist in Alacrita's core network assessed the literature around the two kinases to answer four questions:

1. Does this type of project make sense from a business/biology point of view?
2. Is the inhibition of one of the two kinases alone a viable approach?
3. Is there any reason for terminating the project?
4. If this project is sound, what types of cell assays (functional/mechanistic) are advisable?

We concluded that given the complexity of the underlying biology and the amount of effort that would be required to see whether it would be possible to separate the identified toxicity from efficacy, this was a very high-risk project.

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