Contera Pharma is a Danish biotech company developing innovativesmall-molecule and RNA-based therapeutics to address neurological disorders.Their unique R&D model integrates their team of experienced neurosciencedrug hunters with cutting-edge technology, like Abzu’s proprietary discovery engine, theQLattice®, to develop precision medicines.

Abzu’s QLattice, a new class of explainable artificial intelligence withrecently-patented technology, accelerates scientists’ exploration andunderstanding of relationships in data. Abzu, a member of CataloniaBio &HealthTech, and Contera Pharma initially collaborated in July 2021 toincorporate the QLattice into an RNA therapeutic design application. Theapplication designs RNA therapeutics through parallel hypotheses testing ofdrug targets and individual antisense oligonucleotide (ASO) drug properties.

After seeing accelerated progress on two undisclosed therapeuticscurrently in preclinical testing, Abzu and Contera Pharma agreed to expandtheir strategic partnership, adding siRNAs and target identification to theplatform.

“Our expanded strategic partnership is based on a three-pronged approachto strengthen our drug discovery platform: First, we run ASO drug design byautomation; second, we will add siRNAs as an RNA therapeutic modality; andthird, we identify novel targets with Abzu’s explainable artificialintelligence,” says Kenneth Christensen, Chief Scientific Officer ofContera Pharma.

“We want to turbocharge the development of RNA medicines,” says MartinKerr, Head of Business Development and Pharma Partnerships at Abzu. “WithContera Pharma, we’re designing and testing RNA medicines to multiple targets —all at once — which means that we’re breaking new ground faster than anyoneelse.”

Combined, this expanded partnership advances the companies vision toaccelerate the drug discovery process by deepening the disease anddisease-target understanding and at the same time accelerating rational drugdesign.