Algen Biotechnologies has announced a multi-target partnership with AstraZeneca to accelerate the discovery of novel therapeutic targets in immunology.
Under the agreement, Algen will leverage its AlgenBrain platform to drive preclinical drug discovery, with AstraZeneca receiving exclusive rights to develop and commercialise therapies against a defined set of targets identified and selected through the partnership.
Algen will receive an upfront payment from AstraZeneca and additional payments upon the achievement of specific milestones, with a potential total deal value of $555m.
"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, CEO & co-founder, Algen Biotechnologies.
"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."
Jim Weatherall, Chief Data Scientist, Biopharmaceuticals R&D AstraZeneca, said: "We are using AI and Machine Learning to enhance the discovery of new targets, which we believe will help to create more effective medicines."
"Truly transformative therapies begin with uncovering the right biological targets, which have strong human translational relevance. Algen’s platform offers a powerful approach to achieving this."
AlgenBrain models disease progression by capturing billions of dynamic RNA changes in human, disease-relevant cell types and linking them to functional outcomes and therapeutic index through high-throughput gene modulation.
By mapping causal links between gene regulation and disease progression, the platform has the potential to identify novel genes that, when therapeutically targeted, may reverse disease processes.
AlgenBrain grounds early discovery in human biology and aims to improve translational accuracy, increase the probability of clinical success and bring more effective therapies to patients.
"This collaboration with AstraZeneca is part of a growing shift toward data-driven, biology-first approaches in drug discovery," said Christine Du, Chief Business Officer and co-founder, Algen Biotechnologies.
"AlgenBrain is designed to uncover the most actionable targets by integrating experimental biology with AI in a continuous learning loop."
"By grounding discovery in human biology and mapping gene function to disease outcomes, we believe the AlgenBrain platform can help drive a new era of predictive, precision drug discovery across a wide range of therapeutic areas."