AstraZeneca has signed a $555 million deal with San Francisco biotech Algen Biotechnologies that will tap the latter company’s artificial intelligence platform to boost discovery of new targets in immunology.
The pact will see Algen use its so-called “AlgenBrain” platform to drive early-stage drug discovery for AstraZeneca. The hope is to find a series of next-generation immunology therapies “using advanced CRISPR gene modulation and AI-driven drug discovery,” according to a joint statement.
The deal allows AstraZeneca exclusive rights to develop and sell therapies “against a defined set of targets identified and selected through the partnership,” the company said in a statement.
For its part, Algen nabs an undisclosed upfront payment from AstraZeneca plus biobucks payments for a total deal value of up to $555 million. The companies did not provide a breakdown of the figures.
“We’re excited to collaborate with AstraZeneca to bring the power of our AI-driven functional genomics platform to decode complex chronic inflammatory conditions for drug discovery,” said Chun-Hao Huang, Ph.D., CEO and co-founder of Algen Biotechnologies, in a statement.
“Together with AstraZeneca’s deep expertise in translational science and clinical development, we aim to uncover new biological insights to accelerate the development of novel therapies alone or in combination to transform patient outcomes.”
Like many other Big Pharmas, AstraZeneca has been upping its use of AI and machine learning to help put its foot on the gas for earlier-stage and discovery efforts.
This includes just this year the British-based pharma signing a $5.3B pact to use CSPC's AI platform to develop oral drugs for chronic diseases, as well as a $200 million, three-way deal with Tempus AI and Pathos AI that aims to create new cancer meds.
AZ has also been tapping MILTON (MachIne Learning with phenoType associatiONs), a machine-learning research tool with the ability to predict more than 1,000 diseases before diagnosis, to help its discovery efforts.
“We are using AI and Machine Learning to enhance the discovery of new targets, which we believe will help to create more effective medicines,” added Jim Weatherall Ph.D., Chief Data Scientist, Biopharmaceuticals R&D AstraZeneca.
“Truly transformative therapies begin with uncovering the right biological targets, which have strong human translational relevance," Weatherall added. "Algen’s platform offers a powerful approach to achieving this.”