- AstraZeneca signed a $555 million deal with Algen Biotechnologies for gene-editing therapies
- Algen uses AI and gene-editing tools to develop treatments, focusing on immune system diseases
- Few AI-developed drugs have reached final trials, and none have yet been approved
Global pharmaceutical giant AstraZeneca has signed a $555 million with Algen Biotechnologies, a San Francisco-based biotechnology business that specialises in artificial intelligence, reports Financial Times.
As part of the deal, AstraZeneca would receive exclusive rights to develop and commercialise gene-editing therapies known as Crispr.
The technology was developed by Jennifer Doudna, for which she won the Nobel Prize for Chemistry in 2020. Doudna is currently serving as an advisor to Algen, which will collaborate with AstraZeneca to develop the technology, with the latter not taking any equity stake in the company.
Incorporated in Berkeley labs, Algen had previously raised $11 million in funding and had received a $350,000 grant from the U.S. National Institutes of Health for cancer research.
The company's main focus area is to leverage AI with gene-editing tools to identify and generate new treatments. The collaboration will initially target immune system diseases, with AstraZeneca becoming the latest pharmaceutical giant to invest in AI-led therapeutic solutions.
AstraZeneca's chief data scientist, James Weatherall, though, offered cautious sentiment around AI and suggested a measured approach.
“I think we are definitely in a period of hype at the moment,” he said. “Today, I think our way of controlling the hype is to carefully introduce AI as a tool for our scientists.”
In recent years, there has been an advent of pharmaceutical companies looking towards AI to speed up development time and cut down cost of research and development.
However, very few AI-developed drugs have reached final stage trials and none has yet been approved, Financial Times reports.
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