New company focusing on development of oncology medicines launches in Singapore

A new company that focuses on the development of oncology medicines in Asia, AUM Biosciences (AUM), has officially launched with millions in Singapore dollars of seed funding.

Founded by Vishal Doshi and Dr Harish Dave — both of whom are industry veterans — the new company aims to use the power of digital and precision medicine to disrupt the drug development process, accelerating development timelines, manage trial costs and improve patient outcomes.

Doshi is a global pharma key opinion leader with the Korea Health Industry Development Institute and has expertise in embedding healthcare technology solutions in drug development. Dave is a board-certified oncologist and haematologist and has more than 35 years’ experience in early-stage oncology drug development.

According to data from the World Health Organisation’s International Agency for Research on Cancer, a vast amount of cancers being diagnosed in Asia now and by 2030, it is anticipated that there will be 10.6 million new cases in the region. By 2019, AUM is expected to build a pipeline of three small molecule oncology assets, designed to enable intra-pipeline combinatorial treatments to drive activity against a broad range of Asia-prevalent tumour types.

Additionally, through partnerships with pharmaceutical industry and academia, AUM will identify and in-license pre-IND or late stage pre-clinical assets for development through phase I to proof-of-concept using biomarker-driven strategies and incorporating a digital medicine approach, and seek global partners for late-stage clinical development and commercialisation.

“While Asian biotechnology landscape has improved, western drug development still remains the focus for the majority,” explained Doshi — founder and chief executive officer of AUM. “In 2017, 55 oncology drugs were approved globally but fewer than 20% of these medicines are available in emerging markets, specifically Asia. AUM is focused on addressing the significant unmet need in cancer treatment in Asia, and we differentiate ourselves by taking cutting edge research and science, adopting value-based innovation models and make it commercially viable — benefitting patients, payers and physicians in Asia and around the world.”

“Over the next decade, advances in technology and personalised care will act as key drivers that will impact the oncology landscape, and AUM Biosciences is at the forefront of this evolution,” stated Dave — co-founder and chief medical officer, AUM. “We believe that we are one of the first biotech companies to embed digitalisation and precision medicine strategies in our approach to drug development which we believe has the potential to reduce the cost of clinical trials by up to 20%, and, ultimately, translate to more affordable healthcare and improved patient outcomes.”

The new company will be headquartered in Singapore, where it will be ideally placed to perform clinical trials by collaborating with leading academic and research centres throughout Asia.