Arctoris Files IPO Prospectus for Its Ulysses Automated Drug Discovery Platform Powering AI-Driven Pharmaceutical Innovation

As AI drug discovery methods gradually shift towards combining dry and wet lab experiments, many AI companies have started developing wet lab platforms through self-building or collaboration to accelerate drug discovery.

Arctoris is a biopharmaceutical platform company based in Oxford, UK, that leverages robotics, data science, and machine learning. Through its self-developed automated technology platform Ulysses, Arctoris has significantly enhanced efficiency, accuracy, and reproducibility throughout the R&D process. It also achieves complete data chain and metadata capture from small molecule design to IND, substantially improving data quality and depth for drug discovery.

This end-to-end automated platform can generate large and precise datasets across hundreds of experiment types and analyses. The resulting data assets are captured and passed through an automated analysis pipeline, feeding directly into Arctoris’s machine learning capabilities to create powerful predictive models that accelerate the identification of high-quality molecules. By combining the expertise of seasoned biotech and pharmaceutical professionals with proprietary technology, Arctoris enhances success rates and expedites the progress of clinical projects.

Currently, Arctoris is driving collaborations between the Ulysses platform and top biotech and pharmaceutical teams in the U.S., Europe, and Asia-Pacific regions to guide and accelerate its drug discovery programs in oncology and neurology.

Arctoris was founded by Martin-Immanuel Bittner and Tom Fleming in 2016. Martin, the company's CEO and co-founder, pursued a Ph.D. in cancer drug discovery at the University of Oxford.

The idea of building an automation platform actually originated from Martin's first experience in the lab. When he saw that traditional experimental processes were still being manually conducted by researchers, consuming countless hours, Martin sensed a waste of resources. In his view, scientists' time is extremely valuable and should be spent leveraging their expertise to drive real project progress, rather than being wasted on repetitive experimental procedures.

So if there is a robotic laboratory platform that can not only run experiments remotely 24 hours a day but also achieve higher precision and repeatability, allowing time to be spent on more creative work, it will greatly improve the efficiency of experiments and promote the creative progress of scientific research.

This also became the original intention of Arctoris' establishment. In 2016, Arctoris was officially founded and developed the world's first fully automated drug discovery platform. Through end-to-end automation, the company's technology platform can quickly provide reliable, reproducible, and fully auditable data sets, enabling better decisions to be made early in the drug discovery process.

In recent years, with the continuous development of AI technology, an increasing number of companies and researchers have attempted to utilize artificial intelligence to accomplish various tasks in drug discovery, including target validation, drug synthesis, and new drug design. However, the most significant bottleneck in AI-driven drug discovery currently is the lack of access to high-quality, well-structured datasets.

In Martin's view, automated experiments will see improvements in several aspects compared to manual experiments. First, in terms of standardization, manual operations tend to have greater variability, inconsistency, and lower reproducibility, where minor differences in handling may lead to different experimental results. Automation achieves a high level of precision and consistency.

Secondly, data collection and data quality are crucial. Manual data collection often lacks completeness and accuracy, whereas automated systems can capture metadata across more dimensions during experiments and achieve a complete data chain for experimental traceability.

Finally, there is high-quality data management and data access. Laboratory data is often separated, and there are certain risks in terms of accessibility and secure storage. Since complete records and easy sharing are crucial, Arctoris will ensure that all data is captured and accessed through a secure online portal. Each client and partner organization can securely access, view, download, and share their consistently structured and annotated data.

In general, automated platforms can drive the capture of metadata as well as the storage and access of complete traceable data chains. Data quality, data structure, and data generation speed are crucial for machine learning applications. Each test performed in an automated laboratory can capture more than 100 times the data of industry standards. This combination of deep and rich data with metadata is where the power of robot-driven drug discovery lies, enabling Arctoris to generate large, structured, and well-annotated datasets for training machine learning models.

Based on this, Arctoris developed the unique technology platform Ulysses, enabling the company to conduct R&D from target to hit and lead compounds faster, more accurately, and with greater reproducibility, while significantly enhancing data quality and depth, providing strong support for AI-driven drug discovery.

Martin stated that the drug discovery ecosystem is evolving rapidly, and the key to success lies in accessing the right data at the right time to advance the right projects into clinical trials. Arctoris plays a significant role in enabling truly data-driven drug discovery globally by generating data to support decision-making for biotech and pharmaceutical companies across three continents.

It is reported that, as of now, Arctoris has established partnerships with more than ten AI drug discovery companies and institutions worldwide. In September 2020, Arctoris collaborated with South Korea's Syntekabio on drug discovery initiatives. Syntekabio utilized Arctoris' technology platform to conduct biochemical and cell-based experiments, including target assays and feasibility assessments.

In July 2020, Arctoris and Insilico Medicine announced a technical partnership, combining their unique strengths in AI-driven drug discovery for target identification and generative chemistry, while integrating robotics to rapidly produce high-quality cellular, molecular, and biochemical data.

In March 2022, Arctoris and AI drug discovery company Cyclica announced that they had agreed to expand their partnership to advance a novel neurodegenerative drug discovery program focused on Alzheimer's disease.

Dr. Martin stated that our joint drug discovery program focuses on dual-specificity inhibitors, and Cyclica is one of the leaders in this field, utilizing its structure-based and AI-driven molecular design for polypharmacology research. Meanwhile, Arctoris has established unique expertise in complex enzymology and advanced neurodegenerative cell models. This collaboration combines the strengths of both parties, aiming to develop better treatment options for patients in this therapeutic area.

Meanwhile, Arctoris is also actively developing its internal pipeline, with seven projects targeting oncology and neurodegenerative disease indications already progressing steadily.

Tom Fleming, Chief Operating Officer of Arctoris, stated that drug discovery is undergoing a rapid digital transformation, with the Ulysses platform playing a central catalytic role in this shift. In the next five years, we look forward to seeing greater changes and accelerated growth on the platform, delivering better treatment options across more therapeutic areas at minimal cost. We are honored to play a part in building this future.