Turbine Secures Seed Funding for Expansion of Simulation-Based Drug Discovery

A simulation-based drug discovery company, Turbine, has announced the closing of an institutional funding round worth EUR 3 million (US $3.3 million), which will be used to redesign the oncology drug discovery process. The financing round was led by Delin Ventures and included participation from a number of angel investors.

In a Nov. 13, 2019 press release, the company revealed that the seed funding will be used to expand the rational, simulation-based drug discovery workflow into each phase of drug discovery. Turbine’s proprietary Simulated Cell platform will be the facilitator for the drug discovery work. Comprised of a dynamic computational model of the human cell and the underlying simulation technology, the platform will be used to find the smartest route to novel targets, biomarkers, and combination therapies.

“Over the last couple of years, we have guided the anti-cancer drug discovery process of leading pharmaceutical companies, allowing us to strengthen our simulation-first capabilities,” said Szabolcs Nagy, CEO of Turbine, in the press release. “We believe our methods have the potential to transform the current trial-and-error approach to drug discovery into an iterative process, marked by rational decisions, and leading to better drugs faster.” 

“We have been very impressed by Turbine’s capability to model and simulate complex biological problems first, and then decide on the fate of drugs based on a deep understanding of the problem. This resourcefulness is deeply rooted in the DNA of the team,” added Alan Barge, former vice-president and head of Oncology Therapy Area at AstraZeneca, partner at Delin Ventures, and non-executive director at Turbine. “They have come a long way in developing and validating the platform leaning on revenue from industry collaborations, while also arriving at promising in-vitro validation of their simulation-first DDR drug discovery program within just a couple of months. We look forward to supporting this talented team during the next stage of its development.”

Source: Turbine