Drug development and approval have garnered much attention in times of COVID-19. Korean startup Oncocross is working towards the drug development area using AI-based biotechnology. The pharmaceutical company specializing in drug discovery and cancer drug development using its AI-based platforms.

The AI-based drug screening platform

The startup aims to increase the number of FDA approved drugs with lower cost in a shorter period by collaborating with big pharmaceutical companies, both global and Korea, in oncology, extended profile, IMD, and rescue drugs. For this, it has developed the two AI platform.

1) ONCO AI – An AI platform to screen optimal drug compound indications in preclinical or clinical stages and find the most suitable combination drugs to develop Incrementally Modified Drug (IMD) or orphan drugs, using proprietary human transcriptomic data (RNA expression), disease data, and drug data.  ONCO AI is used to accelerate the drug development process in a shorter time at a lower cost.

2) ONCOfind AI – An AI platform to screen and identify the most suitable biomarker for anti-cancer drug compound candidates using proprietary, standardized human transcriptomic data of multiple races and various cancer phenotype information. This platform can also identify the original anatomic site of primary cancer tumor for Carcinoma of Unknown Primary (CUP).

The startup’s service enables us to find an adequate indication of specific drugs and best partner drugs. ONCO AI platform allows patients to receive the best care and precision medicine, and pharmaceutical companies to increase the success rate of
drug development at low cost and less time.

Lower cost, Faster process

Oncocross’s approach to focus on drug candidates in the clinical stage or commercially available drugs can help pharmaceutical companies dramatically reduce the risk of both time and cost. As per an estimate by the company, the reduction can be up to 8 years and 95% of the cost.

The startup has already utilized its ONCO-AI initial screening process with some prominent pharma companies for various ailments like Jeil Pharma, ST Pharma, Korea Pharma, and Boehringer Ingelheim, a German multinational pharma. The startup believes that with time and cost saved, the ONCO-AI platform could prove to be very important for drug development and assessment in terms of global health security measures, especially in times of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Oncocross’ revenue model is based on license fees, co-development fees, and service fees, depending on the service and agreement. The Oncocross team, which consists of pharma, medicine, and finance experts, is headed by Yirang Kim, an experienced Medical Oncologist (Hematology). The startup wants to develop a domestic market as well as expand to the overseas market.

Oncocross is participating in the third edition of the “TIPS X beSUCCESS Korean startup showcase” to be held online on September 23-24, 2020. TIPS (Tech Incubator Program for startup Korea) is South Korean government-backed incubator, and beSUCCESS is Korea’s leading startup media company. The highly successful first two editions of the startup showcase were held in San Francisco and Palo Alto