Spektron Using AI to Design Drugs

Spektron Systems of Little Rock is using artificial intelligence and machine learning to speed up drug discovery in a process that involves designing a new molecule that could be further developed into a new drug.

The company hopes to reach a point where chemists aren’t needed for drug discovery and AI can design molecules leading to drugs with fewer side effects, COO Tim Dockins told Arkansas Business.

The drug discovery process typically takes eight to 10 years, Dockins said. The startup aims to cut that timeline by half or more, to three to five years.

Spektron also hopes to announce during the first quarter its series A round of venture capital funding. When that round ends, Dockins said, the company will hire more scientists, machine learning and AI experts, pharmacologists, chemists and regulatory experts, building its staff from eight to 25.

Spektron builds predictive computer models that compile all available information about molecules, compounds and drugs already in the market, then figure out what parts of them are important. In essence, the models show the relationship between a molecule and what it does, helping the company design new molecules and virtually screen the molecules for qualities like toxicity, efficacy and side effects, Dockins said. Spektron, which is based in Arkansas because of its relationship with the National Center for Toxicological Research in Jefferson County, is focusing on molecules to create or improve psychiatric drugs.

Spektron is one of many startups working with artificial intelligence and machine learning to shake up the drug development process, but there’s enough opportunity in the market to go around, Dockins said.

No one has licensed a new molecule to a pharmaceutical company. Spektron hopes to within four years of wrapping up its series A round. It is taking 10 molecules through its process right now, and licensing just one would make the startup profitable, Dockins said. “If we could do three of these, we’re essentially the golden child or the goose that laid the golden egg,” he said.

Even though the company is not yet turning a profit, Dockins said it’s on solid financial footing thanks to the “vast network” of family and friends of David Wolf, Spektron’s co-founder, president and chief medical officer.

The company, started in 2014, has raised approximately $3.4 million in pre-seed and seed investment.

Wolf, who works for Spektron from his office in Houston, is a doctor, astronaut, electrical engineer and life sciences inventor who has served as chief engineer and program manager for NASA. He was NASA’s Inventor of the Year in 1992.

Also on the executive team is Robert Cain, who works as executive vice president and chief strategy officer from his office in Los Angeles. He has a background in investment banking, initial public offerings and pharmaceuticals.

Dockins and the other five people on Spektron’s staff recently moved to the Little Rock Technology Park from the Regions Center.