Century Health, a leader in using AI to analyze real-world clinical data for research acceleration, announced a collaboration with Tessel Biosciences, a biotechnology company that integrates human organoids and machine learning to model chronic diseases. Under this partnership, Tessel will leverage Century Health’s COPD dataset to better understand patient subgroups who could benefit from its experimental therapies for muco-obstructive lung diseases.
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Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease remains a major global health challenge, responsible for millions of deaths and affecting hundreds of millions worldwide. Despite decades of research, certain patient subtypes remain poorly characterized in routine clinical care, particularly those with mucus obstruction or non-Type 2 inflammatory profiles. These patients often respond poorly to standard COPD therapies, highlighting the need for more comprehensive real-world data to inform treatment strategies.
Century Health uses AI-driven models to extract insights from electronic health records and unstructured clinical notes from community specialty practices. This approach identifies COPD variables that traditional claims data cannot capture, including mucus-obstructive features, airway-dominant patterns, emphysema, and chronic bronchitis. By providing Tessel with this level of detail, the company can rapidly evaluate disease characteristics and apply these insights to its drug development programs.
Tessel focuses on restoring damaged airways in patient populations underserved by existing treatments, such as individuals who do not respond to inhaled medications or Type 2-targeted biologics. Century Health’s disease-specific data offers a comprehensive view of how these patient groups respond to current standards of care. Because the information comes directly from routine clinical documentation, it allows for faster, more adaptable analysis compared with traditional registries that can take years to establish.
Vish Srivastava, Co-Founder and CEO of Century Health, emphasized that AI-curated real-world data can significantly accelerate early-stage drug development. He explained that the necessary data already exists in clinical records, and Century Health’s platform enables Tessel to quickly identify patient subgroups most relevant for targeted therapies.
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This collaboration aligns with Tessel’s mission to increase predictive accuracy in drug development by integrating human cell data, functional phenotypes, and real-world evidence. Tessel’s discovery platform, Tesselogic, uses patient-derived cells to simulate clinical outcomes and guide the identification of promising drug targets. By combining these insights with Century Health’s real-world dataset, Tessel can more precisely match experimental therapies to the patients most likely to benefit.
Naren Tallapragada, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder of Tessel Biosciences, noted that using Century Health’s AI-curated data will help the company make more informed decisions as it advances its COPD drug candidates. He explained that comparing real-world evidence with clinical trial and academic data provides a clearer picture of unmet needs and supports precision medicine initiatives. He also highlighted that automating the extraction and analysis of clinical variables saves time for research teams and improves efficiency.
Tessel’s work focuses on developing novel therapies for chronic inflammatory airway diseases, particularly addressing mucus obstruction seen in COPD. By pairing its programs with Century Health’s real-world data, Tessel can refine its development strategies and prioritize patient groups where new mechanisms of action may have the greatest therapeutic impact.
The partnership builds on Tessel’s ongoing progress, including a recent award of up to $4.2 million from ARPA-H to support its work integrating organoid models with AI to simulate human biology. This collaboration with Century Health represents a key step in advancing early drug development for COPD and other muco-obstructive lung conditions.
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