Quantum advantage for Kuano with £1.8m seed round boost

Kuano, a drug discovery company combining quantum mechanical simulations with AI to create next-generation medicines, has closed a £1.8m seed funding round which will further validate its quantum simulation platform for the design of more effective drug candidates.

The round, led by Mercia Ventures, saw participation from ACF Investors, Ascension Ventures, o2h Ventures, Meltwind Advisory and angels.

The company was formed in March 2020 to focus on drug discovery for enzyme disease targets, says co-founder and CEO Vid Stojevic.

“Enzymes play a wide-ranging role in disease,” he says, “but current technologies are unable to develop drugs to tackle most of them. Our team at Kuano recognised the need to overcome these limitations.

“Our platform creates a ‘quantum lens’ that reveals the difference between enzymes and allows us to target each one individually, minimising adverse toxic effects.”

He added: “This funding round will not only allow us to continue our laboratory work, but also to strengthen our business development and management team and prepare the company for scaling.”

The involvement of quantum-inspired computing is of note, even though full-blown quantum computing isn’t yet available, notes Dr Stojevic.

“We are deploying these cutting-edge algorithms on classical hardware for the time being as hardware-driven quantum computing is not there yet,” he says. “These simulations can be accelerated by AI.

“We’re not using a quantum computer because we don’t think that’s a useful direction in the short term. Quantum hardware is not going to impact the space for five to 10 years. The advantage we have is to do with algorithms, not quantum.

“We’re largely developing the core science, but there’s rich pickings in the interdisciplinary approach. What we’re doing is not being pursued by traditional pharma models.”

The quantum techniques applied by Kuano relate to the way molecular structures are represented by the computer.

“It’s not just a 3D simulation,” explains Dr Stojevic. “It’s electron configurations and you have to look at them all: the problem needs to be tackled in the orbital space, not the 3D space.

“In principle, quantum can get to solutions quickly, however this world between quantum computing and traditional computing is not binary, and algorithmic designing can help us make great strides forward.”

The enzymes that Kuano is targeting for drug discovery “are viewed through the lens that involves the full orbital space”.

“Dysfunctional enzymes are implicated in many human diseases and are therefore a prevalent target in today’s drug market. However, until now scientists have only been able to view enzymes in their ‘resting’ state, and not in their fully-functioning ‘dynamic’ states.

“Kuano’s quantum simulation platform enables scientists to see and model enzymes in their dynamic state, opening new possibilities for more effective drug design. Profiling these unique enzymes with its suite of AI tools, Kuano can then predict the best structures with which to target them.

“Drug candidates designed this way are a precise match to the target enzyme, meaning that they are therefore likely to be more potent, with fewer toxic side effects. The platform has already been validated in three separate disease areas, including bowel cancer and lymphoma.”

He adds: “Drug design in the enzyme space can have a huge impact.”

Kuano is based at Hauxton House on Mill SciTech Park: the throughput from its quantum simulation engine to quantum-designed drug candidates – via quantum pharmacophores – ends up being tested in a wet lab, either in Cambridge or via a CRO in India.

The plan is to develop two models – one where the IP is owned by the pharma company which uses the Kuano platform (with Kuano receiving milestone payments), while the other option would see Kuano own the assets and sell these into pharma at an appropriate stage of development.

Right now the Kuano team of nine includes expertise from pharma alongside quantum expertise – Dr Stojevic has an MSc in quantum fields and fundamental forces from Imperial, and a PhD in theoretical physics from King’s College London.

“We are expanding to a full-time team of 12,” Dr Stojevic says. “At that point there will be three people in operations and business development, six on the technology – from quantum to AI – and three in medicinal chemistry and biology.”

The scale-up is proceeding at pace: part of the mission is to encourage the market to consider the new scientific possibilities – quantum-driven technology applied to pharma still being something of a curveball...

“New approaches are needed and that’s what we’re bringing,” is how Dr Stojevic puts it. “We’re building up expertise for an increasing number of enzyme classes. The approach is not a black box one, but needs to be deployed challenge by challenge.”