RAPID development of disruptive technologies such as artificial intelligence (AI), spectrometry and machine learning (ML) algorithms in the bio-medical sector has proven to be a major step forward in revolutionising the fight against cancers and diseases.
The availability of cutting-edge tools had gained immense recognition in helping cancer patients, doctors, scientists and healthcare community, especially with rising prevalence of cancers globally.
In revolutionising the fight against cancers, InterVenn Biosciences, a US-based clinical technology company which started in 2016/2017, has scored a major success by having developed the first-of-its-kind glycoproteomics-based liquid biopsy solution to detect and diagnose cancers.
The company is currently pioneering a new AI-powered platform to decode and unlock the potential of the glycoproteome at clinically meaningful scale for the first time in history.
This AI-enabled mass spectrometry glycoproteomics platform enables researchers at academic centres and biopharmaceutical companies to assess post-translational modifications at an unprecedented scale and speed.
All out to combat Big C
The successful development was a result of InterVenn Biosciences’ vision and personal life purpose of its CEO and co-founder, Aldo Carrascoso that “nobody should ever be blind-sided by disease”.
The Filipino-born and bred Aldo shared that he jump-started this project because of his mother succumbing to breast cancer in the 1990s.
“And what really prompted me to start this in 2016 and 2017 was the experience my own family had again yet with breast cancer,” he told FocusM.
“The vision has always been to promote global healthcare. My commitment to global health is always been front and centre as cancers do not discriminate to a specific race or specific gender.”
Aldo said that his first trip to Malaysia was five years ago when a representative reached out and told him to check on Malaysia. “At that time, InverVenn was at its infancy and we were looking for a regional hub instead of only our US base.”
Describing his first trip to Malaysia as an important eye-opener, Aldo was blown away by the infrastructure (government support for initiatives) in the country. Aside from that, there were numerous experts in the relevant scientific fields who were needed, be they analytical chemists or even bio-statisticians.
“Looking at clinical trials or some of the solutions that were provided, we realised that Southeast Asians are actually among most folks around the world who are being under-represented,” he pointed out. “That’s among the reasons why we were looking for a hub outside the US so we could begin enrolling clinical trials.”
Eventually, InterVenn Biosciences actually launched one of its first clinical trials in Malaysia in which its partner was Clinical Research Malaysia who is “probably one of the best government agencies we have ever worked with for it helped us launch 14 different sites all around the country”.
“We felt Malaysia would be most ideal destination as the regional hub for delivery of our medical healthcare services and products in the ASEAN and APAC region,” he excitedly expressed.
In preparing Malaysia to be the regional hub, InterVenn Biosciences has secured a new 13,000 sq ft office and laboratory at Technology Park Malaysia, Kuala Lumpur which is today the only other InterVenn laboratory outside of the US.
More investment underway
Aldo went on to explain that all the glycoproteins are the same regardless of race or age, be it North American Caucasians or Asians. Whatever developed in the US by InterVenn are referred to as digital classifiers, and classified under disease state through the interrogation of the glycoprotein.
“To optimise this entirely new dimension of biology, we have developed a platform capable of producing a robust pipeline of powerful clinical applications, ranging from early disease screening to diagnostics and potentially therapeutics,” shared Aldo. “InterVenn will contribute to making the new era of personalised, predictive, and preventative care a reality.”
Despite the expected prevalence and incidence of cancers globally, Aldo expressed confidence that InterVenn Biosciences would be able to help save the lives of more than 20 million cancer patients annually through the accessibility and affordability of its revolutionary services and products.
On its other future plan in Malaysia, Aldo said InterVenn Biosciences would target to invest more resources and more people on cross-training following its big investment in infrastructure.
“What’s really made us very proud and very humbled is the support from government agencies and different non-governmental organisations (NGOs) – not just in investments – but in partnerships,” he enthused.
“We have a tremendous amount of collaborators right now that span multiple cancers – whether it’s nasopharyngeal cancer or with colorectal cancer – and we have we’ve grown our partnerships here exponentially at this point.”
InterVenn Biosciences was the top-prize winner of the prestigious CIO Review APAC Top Artificial Intelligence Company Award 2022, and has a wide range of breakthrough tests for various types of cancers and diseases in the pipeline. Its non-traditional approach to epi-proteomics is a marriage of mass spectrometry and AI/machine learning (AI/ML). – Aug 17, 2022
