Hyderabad-based Ikiminds using modern tech to transform large datasets into biological insight

Experience and expertise, are the two most needed factors that clients in any given industry look for from their service providers. Hyderabad-based, Ikiminds Private Limited, a subsidiary of US-based Adroitent Inc, is the brainchild of Dr Sonali Khanra and Nirnith Devireddy. Ikiminds is a data-driven Bio-IT services startup that transforms biological data into impactful insights and solutions in the healthcare, life sciences, pharmaceuticals and medtech sector. Their talent pool of data scientists, computational biologists, PhDs and domain experts spread across their offices in Hyderabad and USA, serve over 50 global clients. The co-founder and president of Ikiminds, Dr Sonali Khanra in conversation with The Hans India dwells on how their access to global ecosystem and domain centric approach sets them apart from any other IT services firm

What inspired the founders to establish Ikiminds?

A realisation that there are gaps in technology adoption and implementation in the healthcare and life science industry has been a propelling thrust behind the genesis of Ikiminds. Coming from a deep life sciences industry background, I have seen that medicine and technology are two different worlds and they do not seem to marry each other. I strongly believe, these two different worlds if brought together could do wonders for the healthcare and life sciences industry. There are many challenges this industry faces, such as the collection and analysis of large volumes of data, the need for qualified professionals who can make sense of this (data scientists who understand biological data), data security, and others. Our goal is to serve as a catalyst and address such gaps to empower healthcare and life sciences organisations.

The services Ikiminds has got to offer to healthcare and lifesciences companies…

Ikiminds is a Bio-IT company that has the knowledge and capability to offer innovative solutions-services to our global healthcare and life sciences clients. We have expertise in Data Science, ML, Modelling - Simulation and Bioinformatics. We help our clients with their data-related needs whether its contract research, data interpretation, AI implementation or data science services. We have four different verticals - AI and Data Science in healthcare, AI and Data Science in life sciences, Advanced Genomics and Digital CRO (contract research organisations).

How does the company leverage technology to drive innovation and accelerate research in the industry?

We use artificial neural networks and deep learning algorithms to help companies design drugs more efficiently. Ikiminds and its partner network are well-positioned for enabling new entrants in the market. We support them at various stages of the drug discovery and development lifecycle and accelerate their time to market. Our integrated portfolio of services and solutions covers everything from discovery, R&D, preclinical CRO and Clinical CRO. Especially, our insilico services are an exceptionally powerful way to improve the chances of success in clinical trial programmes. Our technology can reduce the number of patients needed in a clinical trial and more accurately predict how a drug will perform in the real world.

The clients you work with and the challenges Ikiminds helps to solve…

Our client network spans large, mid to small-size pharma, biotech and life sciences companies as well as startups. For any company to bring a new drug to market, it would take close to $2.6 billion and up to 12 years. Sadly, despite of such heavy investment and time, 95 per cent of these drugs do not even reach the market at all. This is where Ikiminds comes into the picture. Our technology solutions in the life science and digital CRO vertical like AI in drug discovery, drug repurposing and insilico models have helped our clients reduce the cost and time to market. In the healthcare vertical, we will be starting a very interesting project on building a GPT3 chatbot for mental health for one of our clients.

An example on how the company is driving better health outcomes…

We understand that healthcare is one of the most data-driven industries out there. We analyse patient data effectively in order to make accurate treatment recommendations, improve diagnostics/healthcare analytics, and predict clinical outcomes. Our AI tools help in the early diagnosis of life-threatening conditions in patients and inform clinicians on time so patients can get immediate attention. We use an AI-based clinical decision support system (CDSS) to help clinicians better understand the day-to-day patterns and needs of a patient.

How do you differentiate yourself from other IT services firms in this sector?

Our domain centric approach makes us stand apart from any other IT services firm. We have experienced PhDs from premium institutes with deep-rooted scientific expertise in life sciences and healthcare domain. We are a highly agile team of technical and domain experts, equipped with accurate understanding and competence to solve complex problems. Our primary goal is to use technology to solve intricate problems by leveraging domain expertise as an accelerator. In addition, we have a wide network of innovative partners globally with ground-breaking solutions.

An achievement you would like to mention and forward-looking plan to achieve further growth…

We have recently partnered with the leaders of the Good Simulation Practices, Task Force who are working very closely with the FDA in setting the guidelines for modelling and simulations. We aim to be the best digital and an innovation-driven company that utilises modern technologies and domain proficiency to empower healthcare and life sciences organisations and startups globally.

How does your bioinformatics and computational biology service help healthcare and life sciences companies?

We use cutting-edge techniques such as machine learning and artificial intelligence to find patterns in large datasets. We use the patterns to make predictions about disease progression and treatment efficacy. Overall bioinformatics services include NGS (next generation sequencing) services and multi-omics data analysis. Coming to more pharma use cases our services include the use of computational modelling and simulation for prediction of clinical trial outcomes such as primary and secondary endpoints. This can help to identify drug candidates earlier in the development process and allow for the development of more efficient and effective clinical trials. Modelling and simulations mitigates recruitment challenges and allow us to consider a wider range of cases by age, disease, or other special demographics.

How does Ikiminds envision the future of healthcare and life sciences, and what role do you see the company playing in shaping this future?

We envision the future of healthcare as more personalised and value-based. Understanding human genetic diversity is essential to discover the biology of our diseases and how we respond to treatments at both individual and population levels. The goal is to make sure every patient gets the personalized treatment they need on time and at a lesser cost. The future of healthcare should be leveraging technology for advancing genomics and put more collaborative efforts into multi-omics studies which are the key to precision medicine. System biology and multi-omics are wide-ranging interdisciplinary fields as it requires the combined contribution of chemists, biologists, mathematicians and data scientists to untangle the biology of complex systems and to interpret the biological data. The amount of data produced will soon surpass the combined data of YouTube, Twitter and astronomy. This data is not only huge but also diverse and complex.

As per estimates, at least 50 per cent of positions for trained specialists are currently vacant in the industry. This is detrimental to the advancement of research and finding a personalised cure for genetic diseases. However, it also presents a unique opportunity where we can contribute positively. We, at Ikiminds, accelerate drug discovery by leveraging multi-omics techniques, artificial intelligence and computational biology. Also, we are doing our bit in bridging the gap of these skilled resources by training professionals from non-life sciences background in various domain areas.