Qubit Pharmaceuticalsannounces an investment of €4.5 million for the creation of a new drug discovery platform targeting RNA as a therapeutic target. The initiative is supported by Bpifrance with a total investment of €2 million via the Investissements d'Avenir and France 2030 programs. The aim of this research is to open up new possibilities in the treatment of a wide range of diseases, including cancer, inflammatory diseases, rare conditions and infections.

Robert Marino, CEO of Qubit Pharmaceuticals, comments: "I would like to thank Bpifrance, the Programme d'Investissement d'Avenir and France 2030 for once again showing their confidence in us. Qubit Pharma is ideally positioned to make progress in understanding and treating RNA-protein interactions, and this grant, by supporting the creation of a new platform, will enable us to expand research and accelerate the development of innovative treatments. We are determined to demonstrate that it is possible to target RNA and RNA-protein interactions as we move from target identification to lead identification."

Qubit Pharmaceuticals will run this project on its Atlas platform, which integrates advanced supercomputer simulation techniques with optimised small molecule identification strategies. This platform enables a precise description of the biophysical properties governing interactions between a target and a potential drug candidate.

Atlas is able to harness the computing power of supercomputers and quantum computers to accelerate the development of safer, more effective drug candidates, cutting the time needed to screen, select and optimise a candidate of interest by a factor of 2, and the investment required by a factor of more than 10. Qubit is thus able to model and simulate the interactions between molecules and macromolecules with the utmost precision. By creating true digital twins of physical molecules, the Atlas platform performs in just a few hours calculations that would take several years by conventional means - an acceleration of a factor of 100,000.