GATC builds out AI-driven drug discovery hub adjacent to West Virginia University to expand existing drug discovery projects and accelerate pharma development services.
GATC Health Corp, a technology company transforming drug discovery and disease prediction using proprietary, disruptive artificial intelligence (AI), announced that, as one of the first tenants in the new West Virginia University Innovation Corporation (WVUIC), it is establishing an AI-based life sciences/biotech research and development hub to create safer and more effective therapeutics and accelerate personalized medicine. GATC will expand the discovery of its own innovative drugs and diagnostics within the facility, partner with pharma companies to accelerate their drug development and support the distribution of GATC’s 500+ personalized predictive health reports through health plan partners.
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Moving its AI-driven lab operations to West Virginia positions the company to attract additional biotech and pharma partners and provide them with leading-edge artificial intelligence-based services within the facility. It also enhances and accelerates GATC’s own drug development programs with WVUIC’s medical chemistry infrastructure for highly efficient synthesis and testing of new therapeutic compounds. WVUIC’s 1.2 million square foot building is the former Mylan pharmaceutical manufacturing facility, which is now dedicated to promoting positive change in West Virginia through science and technology innovation.
Management announced that the first major project in the new facility will be the expanded development of its drug candidate to treat Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTSD). West Virginia and the surrounding Appalachian region have one of the highest incidences of PTSD per capita in the nation. GATC will also continue the development of its innovative drug candidate to treat fentanyl addiction—one of the leading causes of death in the U.S. The company’s discovery and advanced testing of its new treatments for addiction is drawing significant attention due to GATC’s AI platform discovering a safer and more effective way of returning the addicted brain back to a more normal state.
“I’m thrilled GATC Health has chosen West Virginia University to establish an innovative artificial intelligence-driven research and development hub to advance our understanding of drug development and substance use disorder. Today’s announcement is great news for the Morgantown community and the entire Mountain State,” said Senator Joe Manchin. “The drug epidemic has touched every community across West Virginia and the United States, and we must work together to defeat this devastating crisis. I look forward to continuing my partnership with GATC Health as the center is established and their critical work begins at the WVU Innovation Corporation.”
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GATC’s Multiomics Advanced Technology™ (MAT) platform simulates biochemical interactions to accurately predict the body’s response of a pharmaceutical asset to a specific disease. GATC recently completed a study demonstrating that its MAT platform can successfully predict the positive human outcome of a compound with 88% accuracy and forecast drug failure with an unprecedented 84% accuracy rate – an 11x increase over the current industry lead optimization success rates. MAT can analyze about 400 trillion biological data points in about seven minutes and reduce the time for drug development from years to months. MAT also provides detailed analysis of individuals’ genetic data to produce 509 different SNP Health Risk Reports (Single Nucleotide Polymorphisms). These advanced reports are used by health systems, providers, and labs to predict genetic risks in individual patients for 32 disease categories, allowing patients to take preventative measures before a disease progresses.
“The WVUIC facility will become a regional bioscience hub for GATC’s work and serve as an international example of how advanced AI can facilitate the development of safer and more effective drugs,” stated Tyrone Lam, GATC chief operating officer. “The WVUIC facility is ideal for our vision and will help bring these important treatments to people sooner. Together we are going to establish new best-practices of leveraging advanced AI to discover better drugs faster.”
GATC joins two pharma companies who recently announced they are leasing space in the WVUIC facility. WVU and the West Virginia University Health System, commonly branded as WVU Medicine, officially took ownership of the 1.2 million square foot property on Chestnut Ridge Road in March 2022. It previously served as the Mylan pharmaceutical manufacturing facility with existing laboratory, pharmaceutical manufacturing, and office space.
“The expansion by GATC Health in West Virginia is the perfect example of how tech innovation is spreading beyond Silicon Valley and into more remote regions where resources to boost economic development, specialized research and job growth can be found in clusters that feed off universities,” said Rebecca Fannin, author of the recently released book Silicon Heartland.
“We are taking advantage of this prime facility and support of the University to not only further our business initiatives, but also to provide direct, immediate benefit to the Morgantown area and West Virginia,” stated GATC president, Jeff Moses. “We will be hiring life sciences and biotech focused teams, R&D lab technicians and administrative staff to further attract partnering businesses to this facility and delivering back significant advances in treatments that greatly affect the 13 states across the Appalachian region.”
GATC’s move into the WVU Innovation Corporation’s facility is further evidence of the company’s recent growth initiatives, which include adding industry-leading expertise to its management team and advisory boards. GATC’s team’s experience includes developing highly scalable and secure technology for the Dept of Defense, GrubHub, GoDaddy and IBM Watson. The Science Advisory Board includes Dr. Richard Schatz, co-inventor of the coronary stent, whose invention helps save the lives of more than 2 million people annually; Herb Boyer, co-founder Genentech, the first biotech company to go public and co-inventor of genetic engineering; and Dr. Jonathan Lakey, professor emeritus of UC Irvine School of Medicine and author of over 500 scientific papers.
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