Biotechnology research firm Isomorphic Labs entered into a strategic research collaboration, on Sunday, with Novartis, pharmaceutical company to discover small molecule therapeutics against three undisclosed targets.
The company said Isomorphic Labs will receive an upfront payment of $37.5 million from Novartis. In addition to Novartis funding of select research costs, Isomorphic Labs is eligible to receive up to $1.2 billion in performance-based milestone January 7, 2024 payments, added the firm.
Demis Hassabis, CEO of Isomorphic Labs said, “We are delighted to embark upon this integrated way of working, bringing Isomorphic’s state-of-the-art AI and technology platform, including the next-generation AlphaFold model, and access to massive computing power to Novartis, an established leader in the creation of innovative medicines.”
“Cutting-edge AI technologies such as AlphaFold hold the potential to transform how we discover new drugs and accelerate our ability to deliver life-changing medicines for patients,” said Fiona Marshall, President of Biomedical Research at Novartis.
Through deep integration of this next-generation AlphaFold with other breakthrough AI models developed at Isomorphic Labs, the company can better understand the underlying biological mechanisms of drug targets, and rationally design novel therapeutics, said Isomorphic Labs.
The London-based company also said it is reimagining the entire drug discovery process from first principles with an AI-first approach, working to build powerful new predictive and generative models of biological phenomena to anticipate how drugs will perform and design novel molecules.
Isomorphic Labs has also entered into a similar strategic research collaboration with Eli Lilly and Co, on Sunday, making it the company’s first pharmaceutical partnership.
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