She holds a PhD in Biosciences from the University of Helsinki and has obtained international recognition from her post-doctoral research work into hematopoietic stem cells.

Algorae Pharmaceuticals chairman David Hainsworth said: “Dr. Siggins’ unparalleled experience in pharmaceutical innovation and strategic execution will be invaluable as we advance our pipeline of drug candidates. She brings a deep understanding of the APAC regulatory and commercialisation environment having held senior executive roles within large pharmaceutical companies, most recently Johnson & Johnson.”

Algorae recently revealed it has identified 24 potential new drug combinations it will put through to pre-clinical evaluation that are aimed at improving on existing drug treatments for some types of cancer.

The new combinations were put together by its cutting-edge AlgoraeOS AI system, which is being run off Australia’s “GADI” “super-computer.

AlgoraeOS was launched just two months ago and is the only platform of its kind in Australia. The AI platform was developed in collaboration with the University of NSW AI Institute.

Algorae’s AI model has been pumped with a stream of data from existing known drugs with either expired patents or no patents. That data was then combined with data on “cannabidiol”, a product derived from medicinal cannabis to determine if the existing drugs could be enhanced by combining them with cannabidiol.

A phase two evaluation is set to remove cannabidiol as the base ingredient and simply determine if any two or more drugs in combination can have a greater impact on diseases than they can in isolation.

Management says the results of phase one have expanded the company’s therapeutic pipeline considerably, particularly in the field of oncology.

The AI model initially identified 46 potential drug combinations, subsequently reduced to 24 prospects that the company will look to progress to preclinical evaluation.

AlgoraeOS is primarily focused on diseases with critical treatment gaps, including breast cancer, lung cancer, leukemia and glioblastoma, a common and aggressive brain cancer.

Initially, preliminary lab tests will check to ensure the drug combinations are safe and effective before either being passed on to Algorae’s in-house development team or farmed out in partnership with other pharmaceutical companies.

Algorae has already enjoyed success with its AI-generated combinations with a significant breakthrough in pre-clinical testing aimed at treating dementia. It dramatically improved patient outcomes by combining the front-line drug treatment Donepezil with cannabidiol. “Matching-up” the two significantly increased cell survival rates from 17 per cent to more than 50 per cent.

Algorae’s innovative use of AI to generate better drug combinations to help cure some of society’s most insidious diseases may in time represent a major rethink of the way drugs are developed and taken to market.

Is your ASX-listed company doing something interesting? Contact: mattbirney@bullsnbears.com.au