Healx launches accelerator programme for rare diseases

AI technology company Healx has launched a Global Accelerator Programme for rare diseases to help discover new treatments.

The launch of the accelerator follows a Series B financing round in which Healx raised $56 million through investors. The funding will also be used to develop a clinical-stage portfolio for rare diseases including Fragile X syndrome, the leading genetic cause of autism.

The Rare Treatment Accelerator will invite partnering patient groups to combine their knowledge and data with Healx’s Healnet AI platform to advance potential treatments towards the clinical within 24 months.  

It can take over a decade to produce a drug using the traditional development model. Healx hopes that its AI-driven approach can make the process faster, more efficient and more cost-effective.

Healx previously worked with the FRAXA Research Foundation on a promising clinical trial, testing multiple treatment combinations for Fragile X syndrome.

The company hopes to advance 100 rare disease treatments towards the clinic by 2025. The Healnet AI platform delivers data-driven treatment predictions to shorten the discovery-to-clinic timeline to as little as 24 months.

Healx co-founder and CEO, Dr Tim Guilliams, said: “The size of this Series B financing, especially this quickly after our Series A round last year, is an endorsement of the value of our platform and the pace at which we have developed. It allows us to scale our impact with the launch of our Rare Treatment Accelerator programme and to progress into clinical trials.

“The trials for our fragile X treatments are just the start of the impact we believe our technology is capable of having on drug discovery. Rare diseases affect over 400 million patients world-wide. Of the 7,000 rare diseases known today, 95% are still without an approved treatment.

“To date, it’s been families and patient groups who have had to become experts in the diseases affecting their loved ones and have often been the ones driving forward the efforts into finding new treatments. With our unique combination of in-house R&D, industry collaborations and now the Rare Treatment Accelerator, we look forward to supporting these groups in their mission.”