An end-to-end artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery and development company, under the Hong Kong Science and Technology Parks Corporation (HKSTP), and a leading innovation-driven international healthcare group in China announced that entered into a collaboration agreement to advance the discovery and development of drugs targeting several different targets globally through the use of AI technology.
This strategic collaboration includes an AI-driven drug discovery research and development (R&D) collaboration on four biological targets, as well as the co-development of the (AI)-driven drug discovery and development company’s QPCTL program. The company will receive a total upfront payment of US$13 million for the R&D collaboration projects and the co-development of the QPCTL program, potential milestone-based payments, and share commercialisation profits from the QPCTL program. In addition, Fosun Pharma will make an equity investment in the (AI)-driven drug discovery and development company.
The Founder and CEO of the drug discovery and development company stated that in partnering with the leading pharmaceutical company, the two will begin a new era of AI-powered end-to-end drug discovery and development as human-machine collaboration becomes the new normal in precision drug discovery and development.
The company previously demonstrated that AI can be used to discover novel targets and generate novel molecules that can be tested in humans in record time. Now, they are partnering with one of the leading scientific teams in the pharmaceutical industry to take this technology to the next level for the benefit of patients worldwide.
The Chairman and CEO of the leading innovation-driven international healthcare group stated that they are pleased to enter into a strategic collaboration with the drug discovery and development company. The healthcare group is committed to promoting innovative R&D and is oriented towards fulfilling unmet clinical needs and improving products’ accessibility.
They forward to working with the drug development company to leverage the technological and clinical development strengths of both companies, jointly improving the efficiency of innovative drug R&D, and benefiting more patients worldwide, he added.
The collaboration aims to combine the HKSTP partner company’s end-to-end AI-driven drug discovery platforms and the healthcare group’s clinical development and commercial expertise to discover and develop a portfolio of novel therapeutics.
Pursuant to the collaboration agreement, the company will take responsibility for delivering a preclinical candidate for the QPCTL program and advancing it to the IND stage, after which, the healthcare group will then conduct human clinical studies and co-develop the candidate globally. In parallel, the healthcare group’s R&D team will nominate four therapeutic targets to be assessed by the AI platform and R&D team, who are responsible for advancing drug candidates to the IND stage.
As part of the collaboration, the healthcare group will secure access to the company’s PandaOmics and Chemistry42 platforms to advance the healthcare group’s internal AI-powered discovery and development efforts.
The collaboration between the drug discovery and development company and the healthcare group create great synergies, bringing together leading lights in upstream AI-assisted drug discovery, and downstream clinical development. With such scale and depth of collaboration, we eagerly anticipate seeing what impacts it will bring clinically, according to the Head of the Institute for Translational Research of HKSTP.