Dr. Christian Dansereau – Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif – Dr. Fouzia Laghrissi-Thode
A collaboration between Perceiv AI, DalCor Pharmaceuticals and the Montreal Heart Institute
Montreal (Quebec), November 5, 2020 — The CQDM is pleased to announce the launch of a $600,000 collaborative project in biopharma and artificial intelligence (AI) to develop an AI-driven precision medicine tool.
Under the leadership of Dr. Christian Dansereau, CEO of Perceiv AI, in collaboration with Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, director of the Montreal Heart Institute (MHI) Research Centre and Dr. Fouzia Laghrissi-Thode, CEO of DalCor Pharmaceuticals, with the support of Dr. Marie-Pierre Dubé, director of the MHI Beaulieu-Saucier Pharmacogenomics Centre, the project supports the development of AI-driven digital biomarkers to identify patients who would specifically benefit from given medicines being tested in cardiovascular disease clinical trials. Perceiv AI was awarded a $300,000 grant from the Ministère de l’Économie et de l’Innovation for this innovative collaborative project, further building on its own investment and platform development and additional resources provided by DalCor Pharmaceuticals and the MHI.
“This important partnership will integrate precision medicine solutions into cardiovascular clinical trials. Our Foresight PlatformTM multimodal digital biomarkers will help identify the most suitable patients for trials, in other words, the ones who will most likely benefit from investigational drugs. We are thrilled to be working with such accomplished and pioneering partners to better treat patients with precision medicine, and to accelerate clinical trials in cardiovascular diseases,” said Dr. Christian Dansereau, co-founder and CEO of Perceiv AI.
While cardiovascular clinical trials have historically been lengthy and expensive due to the difficulty in predicting disease evolution and patient responses to drugs, post-myocardial infarction treatments face an additional challenge. In such trials, only 10% of recruited patients may develop a second cardiovascular event. However, more of these patients must be included in the trial to demonstrate the benefit of the investigated drug. Consequently, there is a need to identify patients who are at risk of such events to target the right population for the trial.
The AI-driven tool developed by Perceiv AI can improve healthcare management, reduce the time and cost of clinical trials and, ultimately, improve the quality of life of patients. In the context of clinical trials, it is tailored to optimize patient selection allowing for better management of resources, thereby improving clinical trial execution, reducing research costs while targeting the right patient for the right treatment.
“Cardiovascular disease is the leading cause of death in the world. Precision medicine will allow us to discover new treatment options to improve patient outcomes. This new partnership will enable us to optimize patient selection for cardiovascular disease clinical trials, cost effectively accelerate findings of innovative medication and ultimately save more lives”, declared Dr. Jean-Claude Tardif, director of the MHI research center and professor of medicine at the University of Montreal.
One novelty of the AI-driven tool is to take advantage of the strong correlation of patient genetics to treatment response. It will consider the individual variability of genes, allowing to predict more accurately which patients would benefit from an investigational drug in a clinical trial and therefore change the way cardiovascular research is conducted.
Identifying patients with specific genotypes for investigational medicines in cardiovascular disease is a transformational approach: “DalCor is leading the way with the dal-GenE trial aiming to deliver the first pharmacogenomic precision medicine in cardiovascular disease to post-acute coronary syndrome patients with the ADCY9 AA genotype”, said Dr. Fouzia Laghrissi-Thode from DalCor Pharmaceuticals.
“CQDM is proud to contribute to the integration of AI in the biopharmaceutical sector to improve patient treatment. This collaborative project is a great example of the power of joining forces: tons of clinical and genetic data used to develop a unique AI tool”, said Diane Gosselin, President and CEO of CQDM.
About Perceiv AI
Perceiv AI is a precision medicine technology company developing digital biomarkers to help clinical trials succeed by pairing multimodal biomedical data and proprietary artificial intelligence technology to target the most suitable patients. Our AI-driven turn-key solutions can be used for prognostic enrichment and for precise targeting of responders to therapeutic interventions. Founded in 2018, Perceiv AI has partnerships with small and large biopharma companies in Canada, the United States, and Europe. For more information, please visit www.perceiv.ai, Twitter, and LinkedIn
About DalCor Pharmaceuticals
DalCor is a biopharmaceutical company with a focus on addressing cardiovascular disease, the greatest global healthcare burden. Our purpose is to deliver the first pharmacogenomic precision medicine in cardiovascular disease that specifically targets patients with the ADCY9 AA genotype. The company has operations in Canada, the UK, Switzerland, and the U.S. For more information, please visit www.dalcorpharma.com
About CQDM
CQDM is a biopharma-based research consortium created in 2008 with the mission to fund the development of innovative technologies to accelerate the discovery and development of drugs and vaccines. Its business model is based on a collaborative approach bringing together world-leading pharmaceutical organizations, Canadian biotech companies as well as the Canadian and Quebec governments who share the costs of the research. CQDM uses this leverage to reduce the risks inherent to early-stage biopharmaceutical research. In doing so, CQDM bridges the funding gap needed to drive innovation across the academic and private sectors, especially where early-stage research is concerned. CQDM receives contributions from Quebec’s Ministry of Economy and Innovation (MEI), from large pharmaceutical companies, and from the Government of Canada under the Business-Led Networks of Centres of Excellence Program (BL-NCE). Contact: https://cqdm.orgen
About the Montreal Heart Institute
Founded in 1954, the Montreal Heart Institute constantly aims for the highest standards of excellence in the cardiovascular field through its leadership in clinical and basic research, ultra-specialized care, professional training, and prevention. It houses the largest research center in Canada, the largest cardiovascular prevention center in the country, and the largest cardiovascular genetics center in Canada. The Institute is affiliated with the University of Montreal and has more than 2,000 employees, including 245 doctors and more than 85 researchers. www.icm-mhi.org
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Contact:
CQDM
Nadia Dubé
ndube@cqdm.org
Perceiv AI
Christian Dansereau
info@perceiv.ai
DalCor Pharmaceuticals
Clare Evans
Iris Communication
Clare.evans@iriscommunication.net
Montreal Heart Institute
Camille Turbide
Camille.turbide@gmail.com
