French healthcare company makes $1.2bn AI drug discovery deal
Partnership with San Francisco-based software biotech initially focuses on compounds for five targets | Company uses machine learning to enable structure-based drug design.
French healthcare company Sanofi has united with San Francisco-based Atomwise to use artificial intelligence (AI) for small drug discovery in a potential $1.2 billion deal.
As part of the deal, announced yesterday, August 17, Sanofi will pay $20 million upfront to identify, synthesise, and advance lead compounds for up to five targets which will be exclusive to Sanofi.
Atomwise’s AtomNet platform incorporates “deep learning for structure-based drug design, enabling the rapid, AI-powered search of Atomwise’s proprietary library of more than three trillion synthesisable compounds”.
Subsequent payments tied to key research, development, and sales milestones could total more than $1 billion. Tiered royalties have been established for products developed through the collaboration.
Frank Nestle, global head of research and chief scientific officer at Sanofi, said: “At Sanofi, we are committed to bringing higher quality medicines to patients faster, empowered by our advanced AI drug discovery engine. We are excited to partner with Atomwise, given their leadership in the field of virtual screening and AI-based molecular design.
“Together, we aim at making the drug discovery process more efficient and effective in particular when very limited information is available to support drug design.”
Atomwise is currently building a pipeline of small-molecule drug candidates, with three programmes in lead-optimisation and over 30 programmes in discovery.
Abraham Heifets, co-founder and CEO of Atomwise, said: “At Atomwise, our mission is to use our unique technology to make better medicines, faster, by unlocking targets that have been inaccessible to traditional small molecule discovery approaches.
“We are pleased to enter into this collaboration with Sanofi, which serves as continued validation of the important role that AI-powered platforms will play in accelerating the discovery of new therapies for diseases and conditions that may have gone untreated due to challenging or uncharacterised drug targets.”
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