Lōkahi Therapeutics Expands ai² Futures Lab Through New Partnership With San Diego State University
Lōkahi Therapeutics™, a subsidiary of Glucotrack, Inc. (Nasdaq: GCTK), has announced a new collaboration with San Diego State University’s (SDSU) Fowler College of Business, expanding the company’s ai² Futures Lab™ initiative and broadening its network of academic partners. The collaboration is designed to combine the capabilities of business students with Lōkahi’s efforts to identify, assess, and potentially advance promising pharmaceutical assets and technologies that may have been overlooked, deprioritized, or discontinued by their original developers.
The partnership represents another step in Lōkahi Therapeutics’ strategy of using an academic-industry model to strengthen its approach to drug discovery, asset sourcing, and pipeline development. Through the ai² Futures Lab™, students will gain hands-on exposure to real-world challenges within the biopharmaceutical industry while contributing to the identification and strategic evaluation of potential therapeutic opportunities.
For Lōkahi, the program provides an additional source of analytical capacity and expands the company’s ability to screen potential assets beyond traditional business development channels. By leveraging student teams and academic expertise, the company aims to create a scalable and capital-efficient process for identifying opportunities that could ultimately support licensing, partnerships, acquisitions, or further development.
Expanding an Academic-Industry Innovation Model
The new relationship with SDSU builds on the early experience of the ai² Futures Lab™. During its first year, the initiative engaged 64 students and identified more than 45 potential therapeutic assets. Several of those opportunities subsequently progressed into active pipeline discussions, providing an early indication that the program can generate potential opportunities for Lōkahi’s broader development strategy.
The company established the ai² Futures Lab™ to explore therapeutic candidates and technologies that may no longer be receiving significant attention from their original owners. Pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies frequently make strategic decisions to discontinue, deprioritize, or set aside assets for reasons that may include changes in portfolio priorities, financial considerations, resource allocation, or shifts in development strategy.
Such decisions do not necessarily mean that an asset lacks scientific or commercial potential. Lōkahi’s approach is intended to examine these opportunities systematically and determine whether certain assets could have renewed potential under a different development strategy, business model, or therapeutic focus.
The collaboration with SDSU adds another layer to that process by bringing students into the asset-identification and evaluation workflow. Participants will examine potential opportunities, conduct strategic assessments, and develop recommendations that could inform Lōkahi’s business development activities.
Students to Evaluate Potential Therapeutic Assets
Under the collaboration, SDSU student participants will focus on identifying and evaluating therapeutic assets and technologies. Their work will include strategic assessment designed to determine whether selected opportunities could warrant additional consideration by Lōkahi.
The resulting analyses and recommendations may support a range of potential outcomes. Depending on the characteristics of an individual asset, an opportunity could potentially progress toward partnership discussions, licensing evaluations, or acquisition considerations.
This practical approach is intended to provide students with experience that extends beyond conventional classroom learning. Rather than examining hypothetical business cases, participants will work on challenges connected to the pharmaceutical and biotechnology sectors, where scientific innovation, commercial strategy, intellectual property, regulatory considerations, and capital requirements frequently intersect.
For SDSU, the collaboration also creates an opportunity to expose students to the complexity of strategic decision-making within the life sciences industry. Students participating in the ai² Futures Lab™ can develop skills in market assessment, business development, competitive analysis, strategic planning, and evaluation of emerging technologies.
Greg Tanneberger, J.D., Head of Corporate & Professional Education and Senior Program Administrator at SDSU Fowler College of Business, highlighted the college’s emphasis on applied education and industry engagement.
The Fowler College of Business has a long tradition of preparing students to solve complex business challenges through hands-on learning and industry engagement,” said Tanneberger. “Through the ai² Futures Lab™, our students will work on strategic opportunities at the intersection of business, innovation, and life sciences while contributing meaningful insights to asset evaluation and decision-making.”
Building a Scalable Approach to Pipeline Development
Lōkahi views the ai² Futures Lab™ as an important component of its broader strategy for developing a pipeline while maintaining a disciplined approach to capital deployment.
The identification of more than 45 potential assets during the initiative’s first year illustrates the potential scale of the model. While not every identified opportunity will progress toward development or commercialization, the ability to generate a broad pool of candidates can provide Lōkahi with additional opportunities for detailed assessment.
The fact that several assets have already advanced into active pipeline discussions provides an early validation of the program, according to the company. Importantly, the initiative is not positioned simply as an asset-discovery exercise. Its purpose also includes evaluating whether identified opportunities fit Lōkahi’s strategic objectives and whether they could offer a viable path for further development.
Brian Peters, Senior Vice President of the ai² Division at Lōkahi Therapeutics™, said the program was designed to create a repeatable and efficient process for identifying opportunities.
The ai² Futures Lab™ was created to provide Lōkahi with a scalable, capital-efficient process for identifying and evaluating overlooked or strategically deprioritized therapeutic assets,” said Peters. “In our first year, participating teams identified more than 45 potential assets, with several advancing into active pipeline discussions. That represents encouraging early validation of the model and its ability to generate actionable opportunities for Lōkahi.”
Strengthening Lōkahi’s Academic Network
The addition of SDSU expands the network of academic institutions participating in Lōkahi’s ai² Futures Lab™. By establishing relationships with multiple educational institutions, Lōkahi can potentially increase both the breadth and diversity of perspectives applied to therapeutic asset evaluation.
Different academic programs and student teams can bring distinct areas of expertise to the process. Business students may contribute market and commercial assessments, while future participants could potentially support specialized work involving clinical development, technology, legal considerations, or capital strategy.
This broader network aligns with Lōkahi’s intention to build an integrated framework capable of evaluating opportunities from multiple perspectives before significant resources are committed.
The company indicated that participating institutions may eventually expand into specialized tracks covering business, clinical, technology, legal, and capital-focused areas. These potential expansions would support Lōkahi’s broader Discover, Advance, Monetize framework.
Supporting the Discover, Advance, Monetize Framework
Lōkahi’s Discover, Advance, Monetize framework is intended to provide a structured approach to managing opportunities across different stages of their potential lifecycle.
The Discover component focuses on identifying promising assets and technologies that may have been overlooked or deprioritized. This stage is particularly important in an industry where large numbers of drug candidates and technologies are evaluated but not all continue through development.
The Advance component centers on assessing and potentially progressing selected opportunities that demonstrate sufficient strategic or scientific promise. This can involve determining how an asset might fit within an existing development strategy and identifying potential pathways for additional investment or collaboration.
The Monetize component represents the potential commercial opportunities associated with assets that may have value for other organizations, investors, or strategic partners. Depending on the circumstances, such opportunities could potentially involve licensing, partnerships, acquisitions, or other forms of commercialization.
The ai² Futures Lab™ can contribute to this framework by creating an early-stage pipeline of opportunities for further consideration.
Connecting Business Education With Life Sciences Innovation
The collaboration also highlights the growing importance of interdisciplinary approaches to innovation in the biopharmaceutical sector. Developing a successful pharmaceutical product requires more than scientific discovery. Companies must also evaluate market demand, competitive positioning, intellectual property, regulatory pathways, manufacturing considerations, financing requirements, and potential commercialization strategies.
Business students can play a valuable role in assessing these nonclinical dimensions of an opportunity. Their participation can provide fresh perspectives while giving students exposure to the practical decision-making processes used by life sciences companies.
For Lōkahi, the partnership creates a mechanism for accessing emerging talent while increasing the company’s analytical reach. For SDSU students, it provides an opportunity to apply classroom knowledge to challenges involving real therapeutic assets and technologies.
The model therefore creates a two-way exchange: Lōkahi gains additional research and analytical support, while students gain practical experience in one of the most complex and rapidly evolving areas of the global healthcare industry.
Potential Impact on Future Pipeline Opportunities
As the ai² Futures Lab™ expands, Lōkahi expects its growing academic network to contribute to a broader search for potentially valuable assets. The identification of overlooked technologies could become increasingly important as pharmaceutical companies continue to manage large portfolios and make strategic decisions regarding research and development investments.
However, identifying an asset is only the first step. Each opportunity must ultimately be evaluated according to its scientific rationale, development requirements, competitive landscape, commercial potential, and strategic fit. Lōkahi’s model is designed to apply structured analysis before determining whether an opportunity warrants further engagement.
The first-year results, including the identification of more than 45 potential assets and the advancement of several into active pipeline discussions, provide an initial foundation for the initiative’s continued development.
With SDSU now joining the program, Lōkahi is positioned to broaden the reach of the ai² Futures Lab™ while strengthening its connection with academic talent and business education.
The collaboration between Lōkahi Therapeutics and SDSU’s Fowler College of Business reflects an increasingly collaborative approach to pharmaceutical innovation, bringing together industry expertise, academic resources, and student talent.
By expanding the ai² Futures Lab™, Lōkahi aims to increase its ability to identify potential therapeutic assets while maintaining a disciplined and capital-conscious approach to pipeline development. At the same time, the program offers SDSU students practical experience evaluating real-world opportunities at the intersection of business, technology, and life sciences.
As additional academic institutions potentially join the initiative and specialized tracks are developed, the ai² Futures Lab™ could provide Lōkahi with a broader platform for identifying, evaluating, and advancing opportunities across the biopharmaceutical landscape.
The partnership ultimately underscores Lōkahi’s strategy of looking beyond conventional sources of innovation. By examining overlooked or strategically deprioritized assets through a structured evaluation process and leveraging the capabilities of academic partners, the company is seeking to uncover opportunities that could contribute to future pipeline development and potentially create new pathways for therapeutic innovation.
About Lōkahi Therapeutics™
Lōkahi Therapeutics is a capital-efficient biopharmaceutical platform company focused on identifying, evaluating, acquiring, and advancing overlooked therapeutic assets. Through its ai² platform and ai² Futures Lab execution model, Lōkahi integrates cross-functional expertise and disciplined decision-making to drive strategic development and long-term value creation. For more information, please visit www.lokahithera.com. For more information about the ai² Futures Lab program, please visit www.ai2futureslab.com.
About Glucotrack, Inc.
Glucotrack, Inc. (NASDAQ: GCTK) operates Lōkahi and, through its subsidiary Glucotrack Technologies, Inc., focuses on the design, development, and commercialization of novel technologies for people with diabetes, including a long-term implantable continuous blood glucose monitoring system. The Glucotrack CBGM is an Investigational Device and is limited by federal (or United States) law to investigational use. For more information, please visit www.glucotrack.com.