Berg Receives Frost & Sullivan 2013 Drug Discovery Technology Innovation Award

BOSTON, Sept. 11, 2013 /PRNewswire/ -- Berg, a biopharmaceutical company committed to uncovering health solutions through a data-driven, biological research approach, was recognized today with the 2013 North American Drug Discovery Technology Innovation Award at the Frost & Sullivan Growth, Innovation and Leadership Awards Gala, the annual event by the global research organization that highlights the most promising new innovative technology across sectors.

Berg's Interrogative Biology™ platform allows for an agnostic approach to drug discovery and diagnostic developments, relying on actionable insights gleaned from biological data to help inform decision-making. While the process has been adopted by other industries such as finance, sports and advertising, Berg is the first to take hold in the pharmaceutical industry.  

"We're on the verge of a paradigm shift in the pharmaceutical industry, where insights gleaned from Big Data – rather than hypotheses – will drive scientific drug discovery and development to create safer, more effective drugs in half the time," said Niven R. Narain, co-founder, president and CTO of Berg. "The Frost & Sullivan recognition demonstrates the potential of an agnostic, data-driven approach to revolutionize science. We are humbled to receive such an honor."

What makes the Berg Interrogative Biology platform unique is its reliance on Bayesian network theory, which attempts to identify probabilistic relationships in the body, allowing for a better understanding of the difference between healthy and diseased human biology.

"Systems biology represents a promising new field of drug discovery borne out of the amazing volume of omics-based data generated over the last decade," said Cecilia Van Cauwenberghe, senior research analyst, Frost & Sullivan. "Berg's novel approach provides valuable insights to assess and accelerate the R&D process, and its Interrogative Biology platform has allowed the future of healthcare to become a reality."

Founded in 2006, Berg is the namesake of Carl E. Berg, a Silicon Valley real estate visionary and technology venture capital investor. To learn more about Berg, the Technology Innovation Award and Frost & Sullivan, please visit Berghealth.com.

About the Berg Interrogative Biology™ Platform
Berg's application of Artificial Intelligence in biology and medicine allows for a combination of systems biology and systems engineering leading to well-defined answers on human health. The Berg Interrogative Biology™ platform integrates molecular data directly from a patient with clinical and demographic information to learn predictive patterns. The platform has the potential to provide the physician with actionable information to recommend efficient and safe treatment pathways, insurance companies with health economics analyses to develop more relevant formulary, and governments with a data ecosystem for financial modeling of healthcare needs of the population.

Using the Interrogative Biology platform, the company has successfully harnessed the ability of its lead oncology candidate, BPM 31510, to create an anti-cancer effect. Phase I and II clinical trials of a topical formulation of BPM 31510 for the treatment of skin cancers have been completed, as has a Phase I dose escalation clinical trial of an intravenous formulation of BPM 31510 for the treatment of solid tumors and leukemia. In addition, BPM 31543 is in Phase I trials for the prevention of chemotherapy-induced alopecia.

About Berg                           
Berg is a biopharmaceutical company and parent company to Berg Pharma, Berg Biosystems and Berg Diagnostics. Our research focus seeks to understand how alterations in metabolism relate to disease onset. We have uncovered key insight into metabolic control factors and namely into underlying elements in the Warburg Hypothesis. The company has a deep pipeline of early-stage technologies in CNS diseases and metabolic diseases that complement its late-stage clinical trial activity in cancer and prevention of chemotoxicity. Armed with use of the discovery platform that translates biological output into viable therapeutics and a robust biomarker library, Berg is poised to realize its pursuit of a healthier tomorrow.

SOURCE Berg