Poolbeg Pharma announced that its Scientific Advisory Board ('SAB') has endorsed the influenza drug targets identified in its AI-led drug discovery programme. The SAB was presented with comprehensive data and information regarding the large number of novel drug targets identified as part of the CytoReason collaboration in June 2023, along with a proposed list of prioritised candidates. Prioritisation was based on several key criteria and an evaluation by both Poolbeg and CytoReason's teams of expert biologists and data scientists to identify the top-ranking genes potentially suitable for the treatment of influenza.

The members of the SAB considered the data and were impressed with the outputs of the programme, a consensus was reached on the prioritised list of novel drug targets to bring forward for lab-based validation, which is expected to complete in 2024. They also provided valuable insight into how to most effectively validate the targets in line with Poolbeg's model.