Sanofi and Owkin expand AI collaboration to include drug positioning in immunology
Sanofi and Owkin have announced the expansion of their collaboration in leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) to include drug positioning in immunology. The expansion builds on the strategic alliance between both companies to work on drug discovery and development programmes in oncology.
Along with the strategic collaboration announced in November 2021, Sanofi announced an equity investment of $180m and a total payment of $90m to discover and develop programmes for four types of cancer: non-small cell lung cancer, triple-negative breast cancer, mesothelioma and multiple myeloma, spanning three years.
In the next phase of this collaboration, Owkin will focus on drug positioning within Sanofi’s immunology therapeutic pipeline.
With more than 80 different forms, immunological or autoimmune disease occurs when the immune system mistakingly attacks healthy cells in the organs and tissues. Despite many being rare, the National Institutes of Health has estimated that autoimmune diseases such as inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), rheumatoid arthritis and lupus collectively affect between 5% and 8% of the US population.
Owkin will combine its existing knowledge and machine learning to identify the best disease indications, matching the most effective subpopulations using multimodal data for specific drugs.
The companies aim to help improve patient outcomes through the integration of AI and data into drug development programmes.
Most recently, AbbVie and Parvus Therapeutics entered into an exclusive global license collaboration to develop and commercialise novel therapies to treat IBD, combining AbbVie’s immunology expertise with Parvus’ regulatory T cell immune tolerisation platform technology, Navacim.
March 27, 2024
