Astrazeneca plc has announced two significant R&D deals with Scorpion Therapeutics Inc. and Benevolentai Ltd., which it hopes will sharpen its research into cancer, lupus and heart failure. Both of the deals involve artificial intelligence (AI) as a way to increase the probability of success during the clinical development process and reduce the chances of costly trial failures.
Inveniai LLC and Kyowa Kirin Co. Ltd. have expanded their partnership a second time, inking their most recent multiple drug discovery agreement. The multiyear deal will see the duo discover novel targets and treatments for therapeutic areas across Kyowa Kirin’s portfolio and areas of interest using Inveniai’s artificial intelligence (AI) platform.
A new artificial intelligence (AI)-powered drug discovery startup, Protai Bio, has emerged from stealth mode following an $8 million seed round led by Grove Ventures and Pitango Healthtech that will see the new company develop a platform to accelerate drug discovery.
Exscientia plc has raised $510.4 million in an upsized Nasdaq IPO and private funding round as it pushes forward with its artificial intelligence-based drug discovery mission. The Oxford, U.K.-based company aims to out-license some of its candidates to other companies, while saving others for its own pipeline.
Xilis Inc. closed $70 million in series A financing on July 8 to reduce drug development costs leveraging its technology, with the goal of advancing precision medicine through targeted drug discovery and development. The financing was led by Mubadala Capital with participation from new investors that include GV, formerly Google Ventures, and others.
HONG KONG – Shionogi & Co. Ltd. has inked a multitarget drug discovery collaboration for Inveniai LLC’s artificial intelligence and machine learning platform Alphameld.
DUBLIN – Anavo Therapeutics BV raised €20 million (US$24 million) in seed financing to fund the build-out of a platform that aims to drug the human phosphatome, or the ensemble of phosphatase enzymes that plays a crucial role in maintaining cells’ phosphorylation balance by removing phosphate groups from their target substrates.
HONG KONG – Beijing Stonewise Technology Co. Ltd., a med-tech firm that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to aid in the discovery of small molecule drugs, closed series B and B+ financing rounds that added $100 million to its pocket. The company intends to use the proceeds to upgrade its AI-enabled drug discovery platform.
TORONTO – It took the Vancouver, British Columbia-based biotech three times, but before the week in mid-December was over, Abcellera Biologics Inc. had finally closed its IPO on the Nasdaq, hoovering up gross proceeds of $555.5 million.
New approaches to trials, digitalization and the effective use of technologies like artificial intelligence are reshaping how clinical trials are conducted, drugs are discovered, and devices are developed.
