Sanofi has signed a research collaboration and license agreement with Exscientia in a deal which could be worth up to $5.2 billion.
The agreement will see Sanofi and Exscientia develop up to 15 novel small-molecule candidates across oncology and immunology. Exscientia will use its personalised medicine platform to take a “patient-first” approach through integrating primary human tissue samples into early target and drug discovery research. By doing so, Exscientia scientists can integrate patient, disease, and clinically relevant data into decisions on potential new medicine candidates earlier in the drug creation process.
The companies have been working together since 2016, with Sanofi in-licensing Exscientia’s novel bispecific small molecule candidate capable of targeting two distinct targets in inflammation and immunology in 2019.
“We look forward to deepening our work with Exscientia, a leader in leveraging AI to modernise all aspects of drug discovery and development,” said Frank Nestle, global head of research and chief scientific officer, Sanofi. “Sanofi’s collaboration with Exscientia aims to transform how we discover and develop new small molecule medicines for cancer and immune-mediated diseases. Application of sophisticated AI and machine learning methods will not only shorten drug discovery timelines, but will also help to design higher quality and better targeted medicines for patients.”
Outside of target discovery, Exscientia will also lead small molecule drug design and lead optimisation activities up to development candidate nomination. Sanofi will work on preclinical and clinical development, manufacturing and commercialisation.
“It is immensely exciting to collaborate with Sanofi with our goal of realising the full potential of AI to deliver the next generation of cancer and immunology medicines,” said Andrew Hopkins, CEO and founder of Exscientia. “Our AI-driven platform can be leveraged across drug discovery, translational research and development, with applications ranging from improving the precision medicine and quality of drug candidates to enriching for patient selection in clinical trials. Our expanded collaboration with Sanofi will utilise the breadth of our platform to test AI-designed drug candidates against patient tissue models, potentially providing far better accuracy than conventional approaches such as mouse models. When you consider the change this represents – testing candidates against actual human tissue years before a clinical trial – it’s transformative.”
Initially, Exscientia will receive an upfront cash payment of $100 million from Sanofi, though the company will be eligible to receive payments totalling $5.2 billion if certain clinical, regulatory and commercial milestones are met.