One Biosciences is a company that utilizes the power of single-cell analysis and AI to unlock a new wave of single-cell-based molecular profiling solutions for a broad range of difficult-to-treat conditions. Pulse 2.0 interviewed One Biosciences CEO Hedi Ben Brahim to learn more about the company.
Hedi Ben Brahim’s Background
What is Hedi Ben Brahim’s background? Brahim said:
“I’m a long-time biotech executive who has been CEO of One Biosciences since September 2023. Before that, I was CEO of Transgene from 2021 to 2023 where my team and I launched two products in the clinic and demonstrated the unique benefits of viral-based personalized vaccines. Prior to that, I was Vice-President, Immunotherapy at Institut Mérieux. In that role, I was also the Chairman of ABL Inc., a contract research & development, and contract biomanufacturing organization. I began my career in the public sector at the Ministry of the Economy, Action and Public Accounts, then at the Ministry of Social Affairs and Health.”
Formation Of One Biosciences
How did the idea for the company come together? Brahim shared:
“One Biosciences was established by Home Biosciences (HBS), Europe’s pioneering techbio venture builder. Europe boasts a lower cost of doing business compared to the US and scientific research of equal quality, but a relative lack of VC money (particularly for early-stage assets) has created an ecosystem with fewer C-suite leaders like me with extensive early-stage experience.”
“One Biosciences’ origin story begins with HBS’ sourcing and vetting system, which identified the underlying technology after a filtering process that began with ~100 candidates. As with HBS’s other selected projects, One Biosciences was housed in a dedicated entity (SPV) where cash has been combined with mentorship, networks, and resources, fully financed by Home Biosciences, who also built the initial team. One Biosciences is also backed by Institut Curie, the French cancer hospital and research center.”
Favorite Memory
What has been your favorite memory working for the company so far? Brahim reflected:
“I would have to say the current moment. Many years have been spent developing our unique discovery engine that combines AI & single-cell technologies, which was featured in Nature Communications*.* Our primary mission is to identify a new generation of single-cell-based molecular profiling precision oncology solutions for hard-to-treat diseases; right now our technology is fully operational. We will move to real-life pilot studies in 2025 with leading KOLs and hospitals So, it’s a very exciting time for us.”
Core Products
What are the company’s core products and features? Brahim explained:
“Our mission is to develop novel precision oncology solutions and medicines for hard-to-treat diseases, particularly in oncology and rare diseases. To achieve this, we have created a unique engine that combines AI & single-cell technologies via a suite of single-cell protocols and algorithms integrated with dry & wet labs. We will provide unique insights to clinicians choosing the best course of treatment for their patients and to pharmaceutical and biotech companies selecting relevant patients for clinical studies. We will also identify novel targets for future drug development. From the start, we have understood the necessity of generating our own data because public data lacks the depth we need. We are doing that by accessing frozen biocollections to get samples for longitudinal follow-up of patients.”
Evolution Of One Bioscience’s Technology
How has the company’s technology evolved since launching? Brahim noted:
“The biggest impacts on our engine have been due to our partnerships with some of the most respected research centers in the world. Our most recent agreement is with Gustave Roussy, the largest cancer hospital in Europe, granting us access to bladder cancer patient data. Another such partnership was struck with Assistance Publique – Hôpitaux de Paris (AP-HP), a consortium of nearly all hospitals in the greater Paris region, to carry out a kidney disease research project. Access to these particularly valuable sources of information adds value to our proprietary discovery engine. Because of what we have already demonstrated we can bring single cell in clinical practice as soon as next year.”
Significant Milestones
What have been some of the company’s most significant milestones? Brahim cited:
“The Nature Communications publication represented major third-party validation for our algorithm. Also, if I may say so, my joining the company represented its readiness to become independent from Home Biosciences and I will accelerate the development of the company. I think our biggest milestones are yet to come—we are currently laying the groundwork for a Series A round and the announcement of our first therapeutic targets.”
Total Addressable Market
What total addressable market (TAM) size is the company pursuing? Brahim assessed:
“Precision oncology is a huge market (and we can go beyond cancer). It is more than $400bn. On top of that, we can identify novel targets to be proposed to pharmas and biotechs.”
Differentiation From The Competition
What differentiates the company from its competition? Brahim affirmed:
“One Biosciences first differentiates through our ability to use single-cell sequencing in clinical practice. That is based on our aptitude to generate high-quality data using samples from the standard of care such as frozen biopsy, combined with our AI-powered algorithm to analyze that unique data and transform it into insights for clinicians. Because single-cell sequencing is unsupervised (algorithms are analyzing all data, without limiting to a pre-set list of targets) it has greater potential to decipher tumor heterogeneity and unravel functional behavior of the cells. Single-cell sequencing it is much powerful than other technologies. ”
Future Company Goals
What are some of the company’s future company goals? Brahim pointed out:
“After choosing our initial indications, we will move to pilot studies in early 2025. It will fully demonstrate our ability to transform tumor samples into actionable information for clinicians. We will showcase unique benefits to patients with complex diseases. We will also partner with pharma to leverage our platform to improve the chance of success of clinical trials.”
Additional Thoughts
Any other topics you would like to discuss? Brahim concluded:
“There is a lot of deserved excitement around AI drug development and clinical practice. The current levels of efficiency for drug discovery are untenable. Single-cell technology is very exciting because of the insights it brings into how gene expression varies between individual cells and how it allows for improved disease understanding through cell subtyping, improved biomarker identification for patient stratification, and more precise monitoring of drug response and disease progression. In the coming years, we’re going to be hearing more and more about this technology.”
