Orakl Oncology aims to transform cancer drug development

Cancer drug development faces a pressing challenge: most new compounds fail to advance through clinical trials, despite rising cancer rates, particularly among younger adults. French entrepreneur Fanny Jaulin believes the root cause lies in outdated trial designs, not the drugs themselves. Her startup, Orakl Oncology, founded in 2023 as a spinoff from the Gustave Roussy Institute of Oncology, aims to revolutionise this process by blending data analysis with biological insights.

Unlike competitors focusing solely on AI or biology, Orakl combines the two to tackle cancer’s complexity. The approach leverages organoids—miniature, simplified organ versions—to test drug responses, supplemented by patient avatars that integrate tissue samples with extensive datasets. These datasets, though smaller than those of some competitors, contain 40 variables per patient, allowing a focus on hard-to-treat cancers like colorectal and pancreatic.

Orakl plans to commercialise two products: O-Predict, which forecasts how patients might respond to drug candidates, and O-Validate, designed to match drugs to biological data. These innovations cater to pharmaceutical developers and biotech firms alike, supported by nearly €15 million in funding, including a recent seed round led by Singular.

Jaulin’s mission goes beyond business success. She seeks to address the therapeutic gaps in precision medicine, making drug discovery faster and more effective. With cancer increasingly becoming a chronic condition, Orakl’s ultimate goal is to bring more life-saving treatments to patients.