Meet Bullfrog AI: Fly exclusive interview with CEO Vin Singh

In an exclusive interview with The Fly, Bullfrog AI (BFRG) talked about the company, its technology, pipeline, AI space and much more.

EXPLAINABILITY IS KEY: Bullfrog AI is a precision medicine company using artificial intelligence, or AI, and machine learning to enable a successful development of pharmaceuticals and biologics. The company is deploying bfLEAP, a platform for use at several critical stages of development with the intention of streamlining data analytics in therapeutics development, decreasing the overall development costs by decreasing failure rates for new therapeutics, and impacting the lives of patients who may have otherwise not received the therapies they need.

“We have an award-winning platform. A lot of AI approaches out there are magic black boxes. But what we have is what we call ‘explainable.’ With our technology we are able to show how we arrived at a specific answer or conclusion. We think that’s very important. We see AI as a valuable tool to aid in decision-making. If you want physicians and scientists to use your technology as a tool to make potential life and death decisions, explainability is very important,” Bullfrog AI’s CEO Vin Singh told The Fly.

HEAVY FOCUS ON BUILDING PIPELINE: The company went public earlier this year. Since then, it “added several pieces” to its team and it has been doing a lot of promotion of the business. “We’ve also been putting a heavy emphasis on building our pipeline. We’re not a biotech company. We’re an AI company, a tech-enabled drug development company. And our focus is on generating revenue as quickly as we can. We’re a lean team and the objective is to get to profitability as quickly as possible,” the executive explained.

PIPELINE: Bullfrog AI has three programs in development, namely a repositioned small molecule therapeutic, which lead indication is glioblastoma; a novel nucleic acid therapeutic for several interrelated liver diseases; and an exclusive co-development project to design, generate and validate a novel, precision-engineered oncolytic virus against colorectal cancer.

“Our first is our mebendazole program. We have two drugs in that program, and one is a modified drug of the other. One of those has been through a Phase 1 trial successfully. John Hopkins University did that work. We’re looking for a strategic partner for that program. We come to the table with our AI platform and drug and are looking for a partner with development experience and resources,” Singh says.

“The second program was licensed from George Washington University. Similar thing as we are looking for strategic partners for that. Meanwhile, the third program is underway with J. Craig Venter Institute. We’re basically reprogramming Herpes virus to only target colorectal cancer cells. It’s a pretty exciting program and could be a powerful drug delivery vehicle. The regulatory path has already been paved for this technology. Amgen (AMGN) has a melanoma drug that is a modified herpes virus. The agency has seen this type of technology, which gives us confidence that once we develop this, our ability to monetize it will be a lot higher.”

The executive also discussed another project that was just finalized. “We’re working with FSHD society analyzing their clinical data and coming up with very interesting results, demonstrating our ability to make predictions about disease progression. The ability of making predictions is kind of a key capabilities we have, even with incomplete data.”

USING AI FOR GOOD: Discussing any potential misconceptions about the company, the CEO noted that while there aren’t many around Bullfrog AI, “there are about AI in general. There is a lot of fear and confusion. Bullfrog AI is using AI for good! To de-risk the drug development process, help increase the success rate of the drugs, shrink the time and investment to develop drugs. Ultimately, we will all benefit from this. We see AI as a valuable tool to aid in decision making and not replace people or use for negative purposes.”

“Meet the Company” is The Fly’s recurring series of exclusive short interviews with Executive Officers to offer a deeper look inside the company.