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Hong Kong headquartered Insilico Medicine, a leading artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, has announced a multi-year research and development (R&D) collaboration with Servier, an independent international pharmaceutical company governed by a foundation. This strategic alliance is focused on identifying and developing novel therapeutics for challenging targets in the oncology space by leveraging Insilico's proprietary AI platform, Pharma.AI.
Under the agreement, Insilico will be eligible to receive up to $32 million in upfront and near-term R&D payments and will lead the AI-driven discovery and development of potential drug candidates that meet predefined criteria, while Servier will share the R&D expenses and lead clinical validation and commercialisation processes.
Harnessing state-of-the-art AI and automation technologies, Insilico has significantly improved the efficiency of preclinical drug development, setting a benchmark for AI-driven drug R&D. While traditional early-stage drug discovery typically requires an average of 4.5 years, Insilico has nominated 20 preclinical candidates from 2021 to 2024, with an average timeline, from project initiation to preclinical candidate (PCC) nomination, of just 12 to 18 months per program, with only 60 to 200 molecules synthesised and tested in each program.
