Exscientia to collaborate with EQRx on drug development

pharmafile | June 25, 2021 | News story | Medical Communications |  AI, Exscientia, clinical drug development 

Exscientia and EQRx have announced a strategic research and development collaboration agreement aiming to substantially accelerate the delivery of novel medicines.

The collaboration will leverage the AI capabilities of Exscientia to accelerate the discovery of small molecule therapeutic drug candidates in multiple therapeutic areas, including oncology and immunology, further expanding the breadth of EQRx’s pipeline of novel therapies.

Under the terms of the agreement, the strengths of both companies will be leveraged throughout the drug development process. Exscientia will lead the discovery phase through to Investigational New Drug application (IND) filing, while EQRx will be responsible for clinical development, regulatory and commercialization efforts. EQRx and Exscientia will equally share in the discovery, development and commercialization costs.

Alexis Borisy, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of EQRx, said: “Exscientia is a leader in AI-driven drug discovery, and of particular note, has now brought multiple AI-engineered drug candidates to clinical trials. We believe that our aligned focus on efficiency and quality sets a truly unique course to bring the next generation of innovative medicines to patients faster and at a fraction of the cost.”

The collaboration will be focused on creating improvements in the traditional drug discovery and development processes by increasing the probability of success through each company’s capabilities to accelerate the delivery of innovative new medicines—from discovery to commercialisation.

Andrew Hopkins, Chief Executive Officer of Exscientia, said: “We are impatient for patients. EQRx and Exscientia are partners who are equally focused on re-engineering the way we create and distribute drugs for better outcomes for more patients. This exciting new collaboration brings together technologies through a new model that has the potential to truly disrupt how we think about efficiently creating innovative new medicines for all patients.”

Kat Jenkins