Verseon

Pharmaceutical company

Verseon International Corporation

Industry| Pharmaceutical
Founded| 2002
Founders| Adityo Prakash, Eniko Fodor, David Kita
Headquarters|

Fremont, California

United States

Website| https://www.verseon.com/

Verseon International Corporation is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company based in Fremont, California. It is developing several drug discovery programs in cardiometabolic diseases and cancer featuring drug candidates that represent novel chemical matter designed using molecular physics and artificial intelligence.[1]

## History

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Verseon was founded in 2002 by Adityo Prakash, Eniko Fodor, and David Kita, who created the company's proprietary physics-based computational drug discovery platform.[2]

Through two early rounds of private funding, Verseon raised $34.5 million from high-profile investors including John Leonard, President and Chief Executive Officer of Intellia Therapeutics and former Chief Scientific Officer of AbbVie Inc and Robert Karr former Senior Vice President of R&D Strategy at Pfizer.

In 2015, Verseon completed a $100.5 million (£68.5 million) stock exchange listing[3][4] on the London Alternative Investment Market (AIM), with backing from several major UK investors. In December 2019, after obtaining stockholder approval, Verseon returned to private ownership.[5]

Prominent members of Verseon's scientific advisory board include Steven Chu, Nobel Prize-winning physicist and former US energy secretary and Frank Doyle dean of the Harvard John A. Paulson School of Engineering and Applied Sciences.

## Drug discovery platform

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Verseon's drug discovery platform generates virtual, novel, synthesizable drug-like compounds, models their interactions with proteins of interest to identify promising drug candidates, and then advances those candidates through synthesis and testing.[6] The candidates are further optimized using AI to yield clinical candidates with requisite characteristics. This kind of physics-based molecular modeling platform could be a new way for the pharmaceutical industry to discover drugs. Nano Magazine noted the platform has produced “multiple chemically diverse clinical candidates…unlikely to be found through any other method” for every one of its drug programs.[7] Currently, most drugs are discovered using the high-throughput screening method.[8]

## Drug pipeline

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As of November 2021, Verseon's pipeline includes 14 drugs in 7 programs in the areas of cardiovascular disease, diabetes, cancer, and liver disease.

The company's first cardiovascular disease (CVD) drug candidate is nearing completion of Phase 1 clinical trials.[9] The stated goal of the CVD program is to produce anticoagulants safe for long-term use without the heightened risk of uncontrolled bleeding posed by other anticoagulant drugs. Preclinical tests have found that Verseon's novel anticoagulant compounds prevent thrombosis while preserving platelet function, meaning they are associated with significantly lower bleeding times than other currently approved anticoagulants[10] dabigatran, argatroban or apixaban.

In August 2021 the company announced that its oral prophylactic treatments for vision loss related to diabetic retinopathy, a condition affecting roughly one third of all diabetics,[11] are close to starting Phase 1 clinical trials.[12] This program explores viable alternatives to regular injections into the eyes of diabetic patients.[13]

Its three oncology programs focus on novel chemotherapy[14] agents for multidrug-resistant cancers, cancers that express CD73 (a cell-surface protein that locally suppresses immune response to tumors), and treatments for aggressive metastatic cancers.[15]

Verseon is also conducting a program for the treatment of hereditary angioedema,[16] a rare genetic disorder characterized by recurrent episodes of severe swelling in areas such as the limbs, face, intestinal tract, or airways.

## References

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1. ^ Ward, Andrew. "Big pharma seeks digital solution to productivity problem". Financial Times. Retrieved 2022-01-14.
2. ^ Goodman, Michael. "Verseon Corp – A New Twist on In Silico Drug Design". www.bio-itworld.com.
3. ^ Taylor, Nick Paul (2015-05-07). "U.S. biotech Verseon bucks trend by going to U.K. for $100M IPO". Fierce Biotech.
4. ^ Moran, Nuala (2015-05-08). "Long-term investors lure Verseon across pond for $100M IPO". BioWorld.
5. ^ "Investegate |AIM Announcements | AIM: Cancellation - Verseon Corporation". www.investegate.co.uk.
6. ^ Goodman, Micheal (June 2016). "In Silico Drug Design: Finally Ready For Prime Time?" (PDF). In Vivo the Business & Medicine Report. 34/ NO. 6: 10–14.
7. ^ "How AI can Fundamentally Transform Drug Discovery and Nanomedicine". Nano Magazine - Latest Nanotechnology News.
8. ^ Szymański, Paweł; Markowicz, Magdalena; Mikiciuk-Olasik, Elżbieta (2011-12-29). "Adaptation of High-Throughput Screening in Drug Discovery—Toxicological Screening Tests". International Journal of Molecular Sciences. 13 (1): 427–452\. doi:10.3390/ijms13010427. ISSN 1422-0067. PMC 3269696. PMID 22312262.
9. ^ "Verseon Reports First Dosing in Phase 1 Trial on New Precision Oral Anticoagulant". www.businesswire.com. 2019-02-04.
10. ^ "Blood Clot Treatment Found By Researchers At Verseon Corporation". Science World Report. 2016-12-12.
11. ^ "Diabetic Retinopathy" (PDF). CDC.gov. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
12. ^ "Verseon Nominates VE-4840 as Primary Drug Candidate for Oral Prophylaxis and Treatment of Diabetic Eye Disease". PR Newswire. 2021-08-05.
13. ^ "Verseon presents oral drug candidate for diabetic eye disease that could replace eye injections". Drug Discovery Today. 2019-05-09.
14. ^ "Verseon Presents Anticancer Drug Candidates Targeting Multidrug Resistant Cancers". Business Wire. 2018-05-18.
15. ^ "Machine Learning Approach Against Cancer | Verseon". www.verseon.com.
16. ^ "Verseon Developing Oral Treatment for HAE". HAEi News. 2017-09-28.