Creyon Bio secures second patent for AI-powered oligonucleotide engineering
This patent protects the company’s proprietary Creyon platform, which rapidly engineers and optimizes OBMs, marking a significant advancement in the field of precision medicine.
The patent (No. 12,057,197) covers Creyon’s method for training machine-learned models to design oligonucleotides—short DNA or RNA molecules—based on specific pharmacological and biophysical properties. Unlike traditional trial-and-error approaches, Creyon’s platform significantly accelerates drug development timelines by optimizing these designs upfront. The platform’s methods improve the identification of potential drug leads by 100-fold compared to traditional industry practices, making it one of the most advanced platforms in the oligonucleotide space.
AI-driven precision
Creyon's CEO, Chris Hart, emphasizes the importance of this patent in solidifying the company’s leadership in oligonucleotide engineering. He said: “Our AI-driven platform uncovers design principles for oligonucleotides and explores vast chemical spaces more efficiently than traditional methods. This approach has enabled us to build the first and only platform capable of engineering for safety first, with optimal pharmacological properties engineered to minimize side effects.”
This advancement is particularly relevant given the complexity of designing OBMs, which have become key therapeutic candidates for treating diseases ranging from genetic disorders to cancers. The newly patented machine learning techniques allow for highly precise, safe, and effective oligonucleotides to be engineered, rather than discovered, reducing costly and time-consuming trial phases.
Real-world applications
Creyon Bio has already seen the real-world impact of its platform. According to Swagatam Mukhopadhyay, Creyon’s co-founder and chief scientific officer, the platform was instrumental in advancing the company's TNPO2 program from concept to clinical treatment in just 13 months:
He said: “The AI/machine learning models covered by this patent were instrumental in bringing our TNPO2 program from concept to patient treatment in 13 months, demonstrating real-world impact of our technology.”
This remarkable timeline showcases the platform's capacity to bring treatments to patients faster while reducing potential side effects. Additionally, the platform’s algorithms boast an 80-90% success rate in creating compounds with no preclinical toxicity across pharmacological studies, demonstrating the reliability and efficacy of Creyon's approach.
Expanding intellectual property portfolio
Nathan Billings, chief strategy officer at Creyon Bio, highlights the strategic value of the newly issued patent. He said: “This patent is a key addition to our strategic IP portfolio and gives us a competitive edge. For our partners, it expands commercial opportunities and enhances our OBM platform's value.”
As Creyon continues to refine and expand its platform, the patent will play a vital role in securing long-term partnerships and commercial opportunities in the biotechnology sector. The company's ability to rapidly engineer oligonucleotides not only streamlines development but also opens up possibilities for collaboration with other pharmaceutical companies seeking to optimize their own drug discovery pipelines.
Supporting research publication
In addition to the patent, Creyon recently published a manuscript in ArXiv detailing three novel algorithms for designing therapeutic oligonucleotides. These algorithms, designed for optimizing the engineering of OBMs, work within practical limitations to avoid errors and reduce experimental workload. The publication, titled 'Efficient Approximate Methods for Design of Experiments for Copolymer Engineering', showcases the potential of the platform to create safer and more effective oligonucleotide treatments for both rare and common diseases.
Mukhopadhyay further commented, “These algorithms are powerful, enabling us to unravel the rules for engineering oligonucleotide-based medicines and extract maximum value from every pharmacology study we perform.”
Creyon Bio’s new patent solidifies its position as a leader in the AI-driven engineering of oligonucleotide-based medicines. With its ability to optimize drug designs and accelerate timelines, Creyon's platform represents a major leap forward in precision medicine, offering hope for more efficient and effective treatment of diseases ranging from rare genetic conditions to more common disorders.
