Ariana Pharma and USIL Therapeutics Announce AI-Powered Collaboration to Advance Development of UT-241 in Acute Radiation Syndrome

Ariana's explainable AI applied to mechanistic modelling of radiation-induced oxidative stress, bridging pre-clinical evidence to clinical outcomes.

Ariana Pharma® and USIL Therapeutics, a Luxembourg-based biopharmaceutical company developing innovative cytoprotective therapies, today announced a collaboration to develop a mechanistic AI model supporting the clinical evaluation of UT-241 in acute radiation syndrome (ARS).

The collaboration addresses a critical unmet medical need. Acute radiation syndrome - which can arise from exposure to ionizing radiation in medical, industrial, military, or space environments - has no approved radiomitigator to date. Existing countermeasures are limited to myeloid growth factors repositioned from oncology, leaving a significant gap in therapeutic options for patients suffering hematopoietic suppression, gastrointestinal damage, and multi-organ failure following radiation exposure.

USIL is developing UT-241, a novel therapeutic candidate containing a cytoprotective agent with encouraging preclinical results and a favorable safety profile. Because direct efficacy trials involving harmful radiation doses in humans are ethically unfeasible, robust translational models are essential to bridge preclinical data and expected human outcomes, meeting regulatory expectations through a weight-of-evidence approach.

Under this collaboration, Ariana will apply its KEM® Explainable AI technology to build a computational module that simulates the ROS (reactive oxygen species) injury response. Drawing on a rich dataset of preclinical experiments spanning human fibroblasts, cardiomyocytes, myoblasts, renal endothelial cells, bone marrow, and ex vivo and in vivo models, the module will translate quantified stress inputs - including radiation, ischemia-reperfusion, hypoxia, and doxorubicin - into biologically meaningful outputs: ROS levels, ATP and O₂ metabolism, DNA double-strand breaks, cell viability, and organ-level functional impairment.

Together, Ariana and USIL aim to pioneer a new approach to clinical development support in therapeutic areas where generating direct clinical evidence is not feasible. An interactive tool at the heart of this collaboration will be designed to facilitate regulatory discussions and inform development decisions, offering a scientifically rigorous alternative to traditional trial-based evidence in indications such as ARS.

"UT-241 has the potential to address a genuine gap in how we protect patients from radiation injury. Partnering with Ariana gives us a rigorous, Explainable AI-driven framework to build the translational evidence base we need, in a therapeutic area where the conventional clinical trial pathway simply does not apply."- Fred Marin, CEO & Co-Founder, USIL Therapeutics.

"This collaboration demonstrates how KEM® Explainable AI can be applied beyond biomarker discovery and precision medicine to address complex translational challenges. By modeling the biological mechanisms underlying radiation-induced injury, we aim to provide a rigorous and transparent framework for evaluating therapeutic benefit when direct clinical evidence cannot be obtained."- Thomas Turcat, CEO, Ariana Pharma

About USIL TherapeuticsUSIL Therapeutics is a Luxembourg-based biotechnology company developing next-generation medical countermeasures to protect the human body from ionizing radiation. Positioned at the intersection of biotechnology and operational readiness, USIL focuses on scalable, fast-deployable solutions for defense, nuclear, and space applications.