Frontier IP Group plc (LON: FIPP), a specialist in commercialising university intellectual property, has today noted the following announcement from portfolio company Exscientia, a world leader in artificial intelligence drug discovery, that it has entered into a drug-discovery partnership with GT Apeiron Therapeutics.
GT Apeiron is a Shanghai-headquartered biotechnology drug-discovery platform launched with US$27 million backing from GT Healthcare Capital Partners, a life sciences-focused private equity partnership. GT Healthcare is also an investor in Exscientia.
As part of the agreement, Exscientia is entitled to become a shareholder in GT Apeiron as well as receiving milestones and royalties based on the clinical and commercial success of each programme.
GT Healthcare invested in Exscientia as part of a Series B financing round, which raised US$26 million to scale up the Company’s pipeline and advance selected programmes towards clinical development. Further details were announced by Frontier IP on 7 January 2019.
Exscientia’s existing partnerships include collaborations with Celgene, GSK, Roche, Sanofi and Evotec.
Frontier IP Group plc holds a 3.32 per cent stake in the Company.
Exscientia, a world-leading Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, announced today that it has entered an AI drug discovery partnership with Shanghai-headquartered GT Apeiron Therapeutics.
The collaboration will use Exscientia’s full-stack AI drug discovery capabilities and GT Apeiron’s proprietary technologies to accelerate the development of novel drugs via new pathways to tackle high impact therapeutic targets with an initial focus on oncology.
As part of the agreement, Exscientia is entitled to become a shareholder in GT Apeiron as well as receiving milestones and royalties based on the clinical, regulatory and commercial success of each programme. GT Apeiron was launched by GT Healthcare Capital Partners, a life science-focused private equity partnership, with $27 million financial backing.
Exscientia will use its cutting-edge Centaur Chemist™ AI drug discovery platform, which has demonstrated its unparalleled capability to deliver novel drug candidates with unprecedented speed and efficiency. Taking advantage of China’s investment in the pharmaceutical space and using AI to improve the speed of discovery of new treatments for patients both in China and globally are key goals of this collaboration.
Exscientia’s existing partnerships include collaborations with Celgene, Roche, GSK, Sanofi and Evotec, cementing Exscientia’s international reputation as a leader in the rapidly developing field of AI-driven drug discovery.
For Exscientia, this partnership is an opportunity to continue its global expansion and replicate its success in China. The partnership comes just a few months after Exscientia announced the opening of its Osaka office, strengthening its footprint in Asia.
Professor Andrew Hopkins, Exscientia’s CEO, commented:
“This is an exciting time for pharmaceutical research, with innovative approaches to drug discovery as well as the development of new commercial markets. Both are strongly evident in China, already the second largest national pharmaceutical market in the world, where we are delighted to join our expertise and technology with GT Apeiron to initiate our first discovery opportunity in the country. The medicines we generate by applying our AI platform and GT Apeiron’s experimental expertise will focus on areas of significant unmet need with global potential.”
Dr. Mingxi Li, board member of GT Apeiron said:
“We are delighted to partner with the world leading AI-driven drug discovery company who will also become a shareholder of GT Apeiron. We believe the joint effort will significantly improve drug R&D productivity to benefit patients.”
