image: Powered by PandaOmics, Insilico’s proprietary generative biology AI platform, the joint R&D team comprising Insilico Medicine and Sanofi colleagues focused on highly novel targets known to be “undruggable”. Together, the teams addressed this druggability challenge through further lead optimization based on novel scaffolds generated by Chemistry42, the highly flexible generative AI engine for drug design and discovery.
Credit: Insilico Medicine
CAMBRIDGE, Mass., Oct 30, 2024 --- Insilico Medicine (“Insilico”), a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven biotechnology company, today announced a milestone achieved in the multi-year research collaboration with Sanofi. Following the agreement in November 2022, the collaboration yielded an AI-facilitated lead with first-in-class (FIC) potential against an undruggable transcription factor target for treating oncology diseases, enhanced by Insilico Medicine’s AI platform, Pharma.AI.
Powered by PandaOmics, Insilico’s proprietary generative biology AI platform, the joint R&D team comprising Insilico Medicine and Sanofi colleagues focused on highly novel targets known to be “undruggable”. Together, the teams addressed this druggability challenge through further lead optimization based on novel scaffolds generated by Chemistry42, the highly flexible generative AI engine for drug design and discovery.
“It is a remarkable achievement for the Insilico team to work closely with Sanofi, and deliver this milestone,” said Feng Ren, PhD, co-CEO and Chief scientific Officer of Insilico Medicine. “Empowered by AI, the team has delivered a novel lead for a small molecule inhibitor with first-in-class potential targeting a transcription factor, which is known to be an “undruggable” target, with no reports of any other known molecules targeting it. This demonstrated the power of AI in drug discovery especially for novel targets.”
Insilico has elected to bring this program in-house following a reprioritization by Sanofi. The companies continue to collaborate on a number of other potential targets using Insilico’s suite of AI discovery tools.
The collaboration aims to utilize Insilico Medicine's Al platform, Pharma.Al, to advance drug development candidates for up to six new targets. The agreement includes aggregate upfront and target nomination fees of up to $21.5 million, with potential additional payments totaling up to $1.2 billion upon meeting critical research, development, and sales milestones. The collaboration also establishes tiered royalties for any products developed.
“Insilico shares Sanofi's vision for the potential of AI to set records and new benchmarks in drug discovery,” said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine. “Together, we work towards the goal to complete our next project even faster and more effectively, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in drug discovery and development with the support of AI.”
About Insilico Medicine
Insilico Medicine, a global clinical stage biotechnology company powered by generative AI, is connecting biology, chemistry and clinical trials analysis using next-generation AI systems. The company has developed AI platforms that utilize deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, immunity, central nervous system diseases, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and aging-related diseases.
www.insilico.com