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MindRank, a clinical-stage artificial intelligence-empowered drug discovery company, has announced that the first patient has been dosed in the phase III clinical trial of MDR-001, its artificial intelligence-designed oral small-molecule GLP-1 receptor agonist (GLP-1RA) for the treatment of obesity and type 2 diabetes in China.
The phase III study, MOBILE, is a multicenter, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial evaluating the long-term efficacy and safety of MDR-001 in approximately 750 patients across 50 clinical centers in China. The study is led by Professor Linong Ji of Peking University People’s Hospital.
MDR-001 is a biased, selective oral GLP-1 receptor agonist discovered and optimized using MindRank’s proprietary artificial intelligence-enabled drug discovery platform. In a completed phase IIb trial, MDR-001 demonstrated clinically meaningful efficacy, favourable tolerability, and improvements in cardiometabolic parameters, supporting its potential as a best-in-class therapy.
The molecule was identified using MindRank’s proprietary artificial intelligence platform - Molecule Pro, which is an end-to-end drug discovery platform to facilitate lead optimization across critical parameters. The programme progressed from project initiation to US IND clearance in 19 months and advanced to phase III within approximately 4.5 years.
“Dosing the first patient in phase III represents a major milestone for MDR-001 and for artificial intelligence-enabled drug development,” said Zhangming Niu, founder and chief executive officer of MindRank. “We believe MDR-001 demonstrates how AI-driven discovery can accelerate innovation and deliver differentiated therapies to patients.”
MDR-001 was developed by MindRank’s expert team utilizing the PharmKG biological knowledge graph to integrate vast amounts of literature and biological pathway analysis. By leveraging Molecule Dance for protein dynamic simulation modelling and biological validation iterations, the team deeply analyzed the GPCR protein-small molecule binding conformation and signal transduction mechanisms. This allowed for the quantification of specific biological pathway activities, including cAMP agonism and biased ß-arrestin 2 recruitment, guiding the design of a highly selective GLP-1RA small molecule. The Molecule Pro platform’s generative artificial intelligence and ADMET prediction modules, combined with wet-lab iterative feedback, enabled systematic prediction and optimization of the candidate’s structural druggability and safety.
Molecule Pro is MindRank’s proprietary artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery platform. It deeply integrates expertise in artificial intelligence, computational chemistry, chemistry, biology, and medicine, driven by deep learning, generative artificial intelligence, and large language models. The platform integrates nearly one hundred original algorithmic models, with core modules such as Large Language Model Knowledge Graphs and ADMET prediction reaching international leading standards. Molecule Pro focuses on "undruggable" targets, utilizing multi-objective optimization strategies to synergistically balance activity, selectivity, pharmacokinetics, and safety. By introducing prediction mechanisms for toxicity and off-target risks to avoid groups capable of causing adverse reactions (such as structural fragments leading to liver injury), the platform precisely designs and optimizes molecules, systematically improving the efficiency and success rate of drug development.
MindRank is an artificial intelligence-driven biotechnology company dedicated to accelerating the implementation of "artificial intelligence for Science" in drug discovery and leading paradigm shifts. Relying on an artificial intelligence platform that deeply integrates biology, structural biology, chemistry, and medicine, the company focuses on tackling "hard-to-drug" targets to improve the efficiency and success rate of new drug development, aiming to provide global patients with innovative therapies offering greater clinical benefits.
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