Aulos Biosciences is now recruiting cancer patients in Australian medical centers for a trial of the world's first antibody drug designed by a computer. The computationally designed antibody, known as AU-007, was planned by the artificial intelligence platform of Israeli biotech company Biolojic Design from Rehovot, in a way that would target a protein in the human body known as interleukin-2 (IL-2). The goal is for the IL-2 pathway to activate the body's immune system and attack the tumors. The clinical trial will be conducted on patients with final stage solid tumors and will last about a year – but the company hopes to present interim results during 2022. The trial has raised great hopes because if it is successful, it will pave the way for the development of a new type of drug using computational biology and "big data."

Prof. Yanay Ofran's amazing story about the pursuit of an antibody that will save the world from disease Shlomit Lan and Gali Weinreb Professor Yanay Ofran, founder and CEO of Biolojic Design, a company that develops smart antibodies designed to treat a variety of diseases, is frustrated. "Humanity invests $300 billion each year in drug development, and what do we get? At most, we get a few dozen medications a year, most of which don't solve the problems, and give an additional three weeks of life on average to patients with pancreatic cancer, or manage to inject a medication that to date was given via infusion. Those are the breakthroughs," he says despairingly. But Ofran does not think the pharmaceutical companies are the only culprit. "The drug companies are portrayed as a devil who says, 'I won't cure this because it's not worth my while.' But these companies do have a legal obligation towards their shareholders, not to develop drugs unless there's an economic incentive. The problem, as analyzed by Ofran, is much more complicated and therefore far more difficult to treat. "There are three players sitting around the drug development table: science, regulation and the business world.