Game-Changing Cancer Treatment: AstraZeneca and Absci's AI Breakthrough
Published on: March 10, 2024
AstraZeneca has entered into a significant collaboration with Absci Corporation, a US-based firm, in a deal valued at up to $247 million. This partnership focuses on using artificial intelligence for the discovery and development of a novel antibody to combat cancer, a key area of focus for the Anglo-Swedish pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca.
The collaboration aims to utilize Absci's AI technology for large-scale protein analysis to discover viable oncology therapies. Absci specializes in generating proprietary data by analyzing millions of protein interactions. This data is then used to train its generative AI model, which is instrumental in designing and validating effective antibodies targeting foreign substances in the body.
Sean McClain, founder and CEO of Absci, emphasized the enhancement of drug discovery potential and the reduction of development time, achieved by applying engineering principles to this field. The deal encompasses an upfront fee, research and development funding, milestone payments, and royalties from product sales.
This collaboration is part of AstraZeneca's strategic plan to shift from traditional chemotherapy to a new generation of targeted drugs. It follows the company's recent announcement of successful clinical trials for new lung and breast cancer treatments, which AstraZeneca described as a 'massive achievement.'
Puja Sapra, Senior Vice-President at AstraZeneca leading biologics engineering research and development, highlighted the role of AI in enhancing the success and speed of their biologics discovery process. The collaboration with Absci presents an opportunity to leverage AI in creating diverse biologics and integrating AI across their discovery and development processes.
The partnership between AstraZeneca and Absci adds to the growing trend of collaborations between large pharmaceutical companies and emerging AI businesses. These partnerships are aimed at developing novel treatments for various diseases while reducing the costs associated with their development.
This trend was further exemplified by a deal between Moderna and Germany's Immatics in September, potentially exceeding $1.7 billion for the development of cancer vaccines and therapies using T-cell receptor technology to target cancer-associated proteins.