Gamgee is a new startup offering personalised mRNA cancer vaccines for dogs, founded by Australian technology entrepreneur Paul Conyngham. The venture grew out of a widely circulated account in which Conyngham said he used ChatGPT, Grok and other AI tools alongside computational genomics to design a personalised cancer vaccine for his own dog.
Conyngham, who states on the company’s website that he is “not a biologist”, says the intervention added years to the life of Rosie, his Staffordshire bull terrier-Shar Pei mix. Rosie features prominently across his social media, the startup’s website and an AI-generated anime launch video. Announcing the company on X, Conyngham wrote that he used “chatgpt + computational genomics to design a personalised mRNA cancer vaccine for her tumour”, adding that several of her tumours shrank.
How Gamgee Says the Treatment Works
The startup’s stated mission is to deliver personalised treatment at scale. In a section aimed at veterinarians, Gamgee cites a roughly 75 per cent tumour reduction in its “first documented case”, while promising to require less than 20 minutes of a veterinarian’s time, no new clinical workflows and a finished “vaccine in hand” in around four weeks. The company cautions that this timeline is based on a single case and may vary. Costs are not disclosed on the site.
Gamgee is backed by technology incubator Y Combinator and says it is recruiting for its first clinical trials in Australia, with a waitlist open elsewhere. Conyngham says the company is “accepting cases globally”. Gamgee also says it is working in collaboration with the University of Queensland and institutes at the University of New South Wales in Australia, and Conyngham encourages potential funders or study partners to make contact.
Questions Over the Science
The science behind Rosie’s story is considerably messier than the account suggests. The exact role AI played in the process was not clear, and researchers noted the broad claims gave the technology too much credit while minimising the contribution of the humans involved. The protocol Rosie followed also makes it impossible to say whether the mRNA vaccine was responsible for her improvement, because it was administered alongside another therapy.
The company’s ambitions extend beyond dogs and other animals. Gamgee’s website promises it will harness AI and genetics to develop personalised treatments for a range of diseases and species, including humans.
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Image: theverge.com
