Galux, an artificial intelligence (AI) new drug development corporations, said on the 22nd that it succeeded in designing antibodies targeting eight disease proteins using its protein design platform, Galux Design. This follows the company's March announcement of antibody design results for six targets.
Antibody therapies are customized drugs that bind precisely to specific disease proteins to block or treat diseases. Antibodies are immune proteins that prompt our bodies to recognize and attack pathogens or foreign substances, and the principle is to create antibodies that bind to proteins on the surface of cancer cells or to inflammation-related proteins and develop them into treatments.
According to the company, the study confirmed that AI-designed antibodies bound precisely to their target proteins across a total of eight proteins, including PD-L1, a protein that helps cancer cells evade immune attack; HER2, which is overexpressed in breast and gastric cancers; EGFR-S468R (an epidermal growth factor receptor mutation) found in certain cancers; and IL-11 (interleukin-11), which regulates inflammation and cell growth.
Put simply, it means AI designed antibodies that bind precisely to the relevant disease proteins.
The company said it especially succeeded in designing an IL-11 antibody despite having little antigen structural information, showing it can create entirely new antibodies.
The company explained that the binding affinity verified in the initial fragment form (scFv) of the AI-designed antibodies was maintained in the full antibody (IgG) form, and that EGFR-S468R and FZD7 target antibodies distinguished mutations and homologous proteins with a difference of only one to two amino acids. The PD-L1 antibody's designed model matched the actual binding structure at the atomic level (iRMSD 1.1 Å) and was found to bind in a way different from existing antibodies.
Seok Chan-ok, Galux CEO (professor of chemistry at Seoul National University), said, "Our technology maximizes efficacy and reduces side effects through precise therapeutic design in the early stages of new drug development, improving the success rate and greatly enhancing development efficiency," adding, "We are entering an era in which drugs are designed with purpose and intent, not discovered by chance."
Galux said it is expanding research into protein targets that are difficult to approach through conventional antibody discovery, such as GPCRs, proteins that open cellular "gates" in response to external signals, and ion channels, which are channel proteins in the cell membrane, and is working with domestic and overseas pharmaceutical companies to accelerate the clinical entry of AI-designed antibodies.