Startup company receives Government AI backing

PhaSER Biomedical has been awarded the funding by the government’s Regulatory Innovation Office through its AI Capability Fund, which supports regulators to develop new, faster ways of bringing safer drugs onto the market for the benefit of patients.

The company, founded by Professor Roland Wolf from Dundee’s School of Medicine, will deliver the Determination of AI and Computational Approaches to Reduce the Risk of Drug Interactions (DAIRR) project. This will validate in silico models of drug-drug interaction (DDI) prediction with data from the 8HUM humanised mouse model and a clinical study. 

Professor Wolf said, “Drug side effects are a major clinical problem costing the health service billions of pounds every year.

“In this innovative and forward-looking multidisciplinary project in collaboration with the UK drug regulators, we will exploit state of the art technologies to accelerate the rapid registration of safer drugs. We anticipate this project will also contribute to truly personalised use of medicines where drug treatments are tailored to each patient in a manner which avoids drug side effects.” 

This landmark collaboration places PhaSER, the MHRA and the University of Dundee at the forefront of regulatory innovation. The project will exploit PhaSER’s proprietary state of the art humanised models, together with AI and mechanistically based computational technologies to develop new approaches to predict adverse drug reactions.

Working with the MHRA and PhaSER, a multi-disciplinary team has been assembled involving Professor Kevin Read, from Dundee’s School of Life Sciences, Professors Jacob George and Chim Lang from the University’s School of Medicine, along with Professor Mark Chaplain from the University of St Andrews.

Professor Sir Mike Ferguson, Interim co-Dean of Dundee’s School of Life Sciences, said, “Around nine in ten promising drugs fail late in development because early trials invariably do not predict how drug work in real patients. 

“Using AI and real-world health data that reflect the diversity of patients and how they take medicines, scientists can spot risks and successes earlier, giving regulators stronger evidence for faster, well-informed decisions. This can cut delays and costs for developers, bring new treatments to patients sooner, and strengthen the UK’s global position in life sciences innovation.”

Professor Rory McCrimmon, Dean of Dundee’s School of Medicine, added, “Insights from NHS data will be tested in the lab using humanised models that replicate how the body processes medicines. By combining AI with real-world health data, the project also has the potential to transform how new medicines are discovered and tested, helping regulators make faster, better-informed decisions and accelerating the delivery of innovative treatments. 

“This collaboration highlights the University of Dundee’s key role in advancing health research and strengthening the UK’s position as a global leader in life sciences innovation.”

“This collaboration demonstrates a shared commitment between regulators and innovators to redefine how medicines are developed,” said Chris Wardhaugh, CEO of PhaSER Biomedical.

“The 8HUM model gives us a uniquely human-relevant lens on drug metabolism and safety, while our work with the MHRA ensures that these insights can translate directly into regulatory practice.”