Sanofi partners with AI firm Exscientia to develop up to 15 new drugs

Exscientia

07/01/2022 06:01

Jan 7 (Reuters) - French drugmaker Sanofi SA  SASY.PA  will
partner with British AI firm Exscientia Plc  EXAI.O  to develop
up to 15 drug candidates across oncology and immunology, in a
deal worth up to $5.2 billion in milestone payments, the two
companies said on Friday. 
    Exscientia will get an upfront cash payment of $100 million,
leading discovery and design of small molecule drugs up to
nomination of the candidate most likely to be viable. After
that, Sanofi will take charge of clinical development.
    Sanofi is among the many pharmaceutical giants https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/data-hunters-will-be-big-pharmas-next-prey-2021-12-20
 venturing into artificial intelligence to improve accuracy and
reduce time spent on research, with investment firms like
SoftBank  9984.T  also betting big on  https://www.reuters.com/breakingviews/softbanks-pharma-ai-bet-has-long-odds-2021-08-04the
 space.
    Exscientia, which went public on the Nasdaq in October, uses
artificial intelligence to discover drug molecules, especially
focused on treating cancer and immune disorders, through
partnerships with pharma firms such as Roche  ROG.S  and Bristol
Myers Squibb  BMY.N .
    Sanofi and Exscientia have been working together since 2016,
and if the French company commercializes a drug from the
partnership, Exscientia will also be eligible for royalty
payments of up to 21% of net sales.
    "Typically, we have to synthesize 5,000 molecules to find
that one right molecule which will be then become the clinical
candidate. By applying AI, you can potentially do this by just
looking at 500... So that can shorten timelines," said Frank
Nestle, global head of research and chief scientific officer at
Sanofi.
    In November, the company invested $180 million https://www.reuters.com/business/healthcare-pharmaceuticals/drugmaker-sanofi-invests-180-mln-french-ai-startup-owkin-2021-11-18
 for a 10% to 15% stake in French startup Owkin, whose
predictive algorithms aim to improve the research and
development of new cures against cancer.
    
    

    
    

 (Reporting by Leroy Leo; Editing by Devika Syamnath)
 ((Leroy.Dsouza@thomsonreuters.com;))