- Medical tech support company Opyl (OPL) soared today after announcing it has developed software that can predict the success of clinical trials
- The AI-based platform can supposedly make probability of success predictions for any vaccine, drug, and medical device to determine how likely it is to progress in its trials
- While the company claims to have used the tech to find the two COVID-19 vaccines — of almost 500 — most likely to succeed, it didn’t name the vaccines or share how it made the discovery
- Further, Opyl does not have any partners locked in for the tech yet, but said it plans to approach government groups and potential collaborators with its COVID-19 data
- After releasing this morning’s news, Opyl shares quickly surged almost 77 per cent to 23 cents each
- However, soon after the market opened, the company suddenly froze its shares until Monday ahead of a fresh announcement
Medical tech support company Opyl (OPL) soared this morning after announcing it has developed software that can predict the success of clinical trials.
Essentially, the artificial intelligence (AI)-based platform is designed to make a probability of success prediction for vaccines, drugs, and medical devices to determine how likely they are to succeed in their trials.
According to Opyl’s somewhat-opaque announcement, studies have shown that only 13.8 per cent of all drugs in Phase I clinical trials end up getting regulatory approval and make it to market. While vaccines have the highest success rate, at 33.4 per cent, cancer drugs have a success rate of just three per cent.
As such, the company said its goal is to get the new prediction software into the hands of drug and medical device makers to help them refine their clinical approach.
“We can see significant value in using the tool to inform clinical and treatment strategies, early procurement decision making and investments,” Opyl CEO Michelle Gallaher said.
In a proof-of-concept illustration, Opyl used its software to current COVID-19 vaccines and treatments and discovered the two vaccines most likely to progress past their current phase. The company said at least one antibody therapy has the best probability of success of getting a positive Phase III trial outcome.
Yet, the company did not name the treatments and did not share how it reached its conclusions.
“The early outcome of this software trial, investigating the 475 registered COVID-19 clinical trials related to vaccines or treatments, has delivered results that give us an indication of the power of the predictive platform in identifying the COVID-19 trials, or any drug or device trial, with the greatest chance of success,” Michelle claimed.
In fact, Opyl said its tech has the potential to save hundreds of millions of dollars for medical treatment developers. While COVID-19 is the company’s current focus, Michelle said the tech has applications in all drugs, diagnostics, vaccines, and medical devices.
Yet, despite the supposedly-game-changing tech, Opyl doesn’t have any partners on board just yet. The company said it will be reaching out to government groups and potential collaborators who might be interested in the tech.
After releasing this morning’s news, Opyl shares quickly surged 76.92 per cent to 23 cents each. However, the company suddenly froze its shares until the end of the weekend, requesting a trading halt ahead of another new announcement on Monday. Opyl has a $6.97 million market cap.