Zephyr AI Launches its Big Data, Machine-Learning Approach to Aid Precision Medicine

Technology investment company and incubator Red Cell Partners announced today the launch of Zephyr AI, a company that leverages large data sets to inform both clinical care and the development of new targeted precision therapies. The management team of the new company consists of CEO Yisroel Brumer, formerly of the office of the Secretary of Defense; Executive Chairman Grant Verstandig, who most recently served Chief Digital Officer at UnitedHealth Group; and Chief Technology Officer Jeff Sherman, who was the machine learning architect at Rally Health, which was acquired in 2017 by UnitedHealth's Optum unit. According to a press release announcing its launch, Zephyr AI will look to improve patient outcomes while lowering costs by integrating "artificial intelligence with extensive datasets to upend traditional'guess and test' drug development and personalized medicine processes to unearth novel therapeutics, new applications for existing therapeutics, and advanced biomarkers for individualized treatments." The potential new company gave a hint at its direction earlier in the year via the publication of two papers by the founders in the journal Oncogene that detailed the company's technology and it's performance. "These findings demonstrate that Zephyr AI can already identify novel-use cases for existing therapeutics in cancer," company CTO Sherman.