Pfizer extends AI drug discovery collaboration with CytoReason

Pfizer has announced it is extending its partnership with CytoReason in an effort to further utilise artificial intelligence (AI) in drug discovery and development.

CytoReason, a developer of computational disease models for drug discovery first started working with Pfizer in 2019. The company has developed technology that aims to help pharma and biotech companies speed up drug R&D and bring novel therapies to the patients who most need them. 

That partnership gave Pfizer access to CytoReason’s technology, with Pfizer using the technology to gain a better understanding of the immune system and its associated diseases.

Since launching the collaboration in 2019, Pfizer has used CytoReason’s models in Pfizer’s research to enhance the understanding of the immune system in pursuit of developing innovative drugs. CytoReason’s platform has provided Pfizer with multiple insights in a number of R&D programmes across over 20 diseases. 

“The extension of our collaboration with CytoReason will build upon our existing data science capabilities, and further enhance our ability to make data-driven decisions across our portfolio,” said Mikael Dolsten, chief scientific officer and president, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical of Pfizer. “We are excited to continue this successful partnership, which has helped us investigate challenging biological questions to potentially inform the development of new therapies for the benefit of patients.”

“It’s exciting to see our technology in the hands of such a stellar group of scientists,” said David Harel, CytoReason’s CEO and co-founder. “Our work with the Pfizer team has demonstrated how our computational models can potentially match the right treatment to the right patient groups, across multiple therapeutic areas. Through this collaboration and our growing customer base worldwide, we aim to establish our platform as the gold standard for drug discovery, development and portfolio management.”