U of Maryland-Baltimore start-up develops software to help pharma companies succeed

Published 8/13/19 on eNews Blog:  Technology Transfer Tactics

A spinout from the University of Maryland-Baltimore (UMB) has developed a cutting-edge software platform for pharmaceutical researchers and clinicians.

Launched by faculty members at the UMB School of Pharmacy (SOP), Pumas-AI aims to double pharmaceutical and patient care success rates by providing easy-to-access tools and education in the health care data analytics space.

The Pumas software platform, which was co-developed with experts at Julia Computing, offers a wide range of analytic capabilities for pharmaceutical and biotechnology development. In particular, Pumas helps with therapeutic decision-making, addressing a crucial need for pharmaceutical companies and investors, who often base their decisions on a combination of probabilities concerning technology viability, regulatory approval and commercial success. The Pumas software can provide all of these probabilities quantitatively.

“The success rate for pharmaceutical innovations is approximately two percent,” says Puma-AI co-founder Joga Gobburu. “Pumas software is tailored to revolutionize big data analytics in health care, unlike those tools used in other fields. By combining the extensive health care knowledge of our faculty and staff with the scientific computing experts at Julia Computing, we have developed a tool that will not only benefit business leaders working in the pharmaceutical industry, but also those who are caring for patients on the frontline of health care delivery.”

Phil Robilotto, associate vice president at the UMB Office of Technology Transfer and director of UM Ventures, comments, “Moving technologies with commercial potential, such as Puma’s, into the public sector is an important aspect of what universities do. This innovative health care created by SOP’s scientific team is a big success for UMB and will be incredibly beneficial to the public as it’s further developed.”