Predictive Oncology Completes Acquisition of Quantitative Medicine
July 07 2020 - 8:15AM
Predictive Oncology (NASDAQ: POAI), a knowledge-driven company
focused on applying artificial intelligence (“AI”) to personalized
medicine and drug discovery, today announced it has completed its
acquisition of Quantitative Medicine LLC (“QM”), a biomedical
analytics and computational biology company, in an all-stock
transaction valued at approximately $1.8 million.
QM, which was cofounded by Drs. Robert Murphy
and Joshua Kangas, both of Carnegie Mellon University’s
Computational Biology Department, developed its novel,
computational drug-discovery platform CoRETM, an innovative machine
learning platform that predicts the main effects of drugs on target
molecules that mediate disease, which is expected to dramatically
reduce the time, cost and financial risk of discovering new
therapeutic drugs.
“This acquisition will enable us to further
leverage our unique database of drug-response and genomics profiles
that our subsidiary, Helomics, has gathered from more than 150,000
cancer cases over more than 10 years of clinical testing,”
commented Dr. Carl Schwartz, Predictive Oncology’s CEO.
“Integrating QM’s proven machine learning platform, CoRE, with our
proprietary database of drug response and genomics profiles is
expected to revolutionize the role of our AI-driven predictive
models in the discovery and development of new anti-cancers. We
will be able to more quickly understand how specific types of
tumors react to cancer drug therapies. This will allow our
customers to accelerate the development and commercialization of
personalized patient treatments that dramatically improve patient
outcomes. We intend to offer this new capability to our
pharmaceutical company customers in revenue generating projects
this year.”
Dr. Schwartz added, “CoRE is a predictive
model-building platform for drug screening and optimization
campaigns that uses hybrid machine learning approaches to build
predictive models rapidly and drive wet lab experimentation. Unlike
the approach of many AI companies working purely “in silico,” our
approach will unite the CoRE approach with our PDx tumor profiling
platform and tumor data database, allowing for a one-of-a-kind,
end-to-end ‘discovery machine’ that can rapidly generate potential
therapeutic candidates in a cost-effective manner. Therapeutic
candidates developed by this iterative AI and experiment cycle can
be fast-tracked, since there will already be demonstrated activity
in preclinical laboratory tests rather than just a computer
model.”
“Furthermore, the CoRE platform is disease
neutral and coupled with Helomics’ CLIA laboratory offers the
exciting possibility of providing a wide range of new revenue
generating projects with Pharmaceutical companies, not just in
cancer, but in inflammatory and metabolic disease as well as the
search for new antibiotics, anti-viral and vaccines,” added Dr Mark
Collins, Chief Technology Officer at Helomics.
Under the terms of the purchase agreement,
Predictive Oncology issued 954,719 shares of its common stock at a
valuation of $1.833 per share. Additional details regarding the
transaction can be found on the company’s report filed on Form 8-K
with the Securities and Exchange Commission on July 7, 2020.
About Predictive Oncology Inc.
Predictive Oncology (NASDAQ: POAI) operates
through three segments (Domestic, International and other), which
contain four subsidiaries; Helomics, TumorGenesis, Skyline Medical
and Skyline Europe. Helomics applies AI to its rich data gathered
from patient tumors to both personalize cancer therapies for
patients and drive the development of new targeted therapies in
collaborations with pharmaceutical companies. Helomics’
CLIA-certified lab provides clinical testing that assists
oncologists in individualizing patient treatment decisions, by
providing an evidence-based roadmap for therapy. In addition to its
proprietary precision oncology platform, Helomics offers boutique
CRO services that leverage its TruTumor™, patient-derived tumor
models coupled to a wide range of multi-omics assays (genomics,
proteomics and biochemical), and an AI-powered proprietary
bioinformatics platform to provide a tailored solution to its
clients’ specific needs. Predictive Oncology’s TumorGenesis
subsidiary is developing a new rapid approach to growing tumors in
the laboratory, which essentially “fools” cancer cells into
thinking they are still growing inside a patient. Its proprietary
Oncology Discovery Technology Platform kits will assist researchers
and clinicians to identify which cancer cells bind to specific
biomarkers. Once the biomarkers are identified they can be used in
TumorGenesis’ Oncology Capture Technology Platforms, which isolate
and help categorize an individual patient’s heterogeneous tumor
samples to enable the development of patient specific treatment
options. Helomics and TumorGenesis are focused on ovarian cancer.
Predictive Oncology’s Skyline Medical division markets its patented
and FDA cleared STREAMWAY System, which automates the collection,
measurement and disposal of waste fluid, including blood,
irrigation fluid and others, within a medical facility, through
both domestic and international divisions. The Company has achieved
sales in five of the seven continents through both direct sales and
distributor partners. For more information, please
visit www.Predictive-Oncology.com.
Forward-Looking Statements
Portions of the narrative set for this document
that are not statements of historical or current facts are
forward-looking statements, in particular, the commercial outlook
provided above. Our actual future performance may materially differ
from that contemplated by the forward-looking statements as a
result of a variety of factors.
These factors include, in addition to those
mentioned elsewhere herein:
- We may not be able to continue operating without additional
financing;
- Current negative operating cash flows;
- The terms of any further financing, which may be highly
dilutive and may include onerous terms;
- Risks related to the 2019 merger with Helomics including; 1)
significant goodwill could result in further impairment; 2)
possible failure to realize anticipated benefits of the merger; 3)
costs associated with the merger may be higher than expected; 4)
the merger may result in the disruption of our existing businesses;
and 5) distraction of management and diversion of resources;
- Risks related to our partnerships with other companies,
including the need to negotiate the definitive agreements; possible
failure to realize anticipated benefits of these partnerships; and
costs of providing funding to our partner companies, which may
never be repaid or provide anticipated returns;
- Risks related to the transaction with Quantitative Medicine
including: 1) possible failure to realize anticipated benefits of
the transaction; 2) costs associated with the acquisition may be
higher than expected; 3) the transaction may result in the
disruption of our existing businesses; and 4) distraction of
management and diversion of resources;
- Risk that we will be unable to protect our intellectual
property or claims that we are infringing on others’ intellectual
property;
- The impact of competition;
- Acquisition and maintenance of any necessary regulatory
clearances applicable to applications of our technology;
- Inability to attract or retain qualified senior management
personnel, including sales and marketing personnel;
- Risk that we never become profitable if our product is not
accepted by potential customers;
- Possible impact of government regulation and scrutiny;
- Unexpected costs and operating deficits, and lower than
expected sales and revenues, if any;
- Adverse results of any legal proceedings;
- The volatility of our operating results and financial
condition;
- Management of growth;
- Material and adverse effects of the COVD-19 pandemic, including
impact on a significant supplier; a reduction in on-site staff at
several of our facilities, resulting in delayed production and less
efficiency; impact on sales efforts; impact on accounts receivable
and terms demanded by suppliers; and possible impact on financing
transactions; and,
- Other specific risks that may be detailed from time to
time in the Company’s reports filed with the SEC, which are
available for review at www.sec.gov..
Investor Relations Contact:
Hayden IRJames
Carbonara(646)-755-7412james@haydenir.com
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