On December 16, 2021 Aqemia, the next-gen pharmatech company leveraging artificial intelligence and quantum physics, and Servier, a global pharmaceutical group, reported that they have entered into a collaboration agreement that will use Aqemia’s technology to accelerate the discovery of small molecule therapeutic drug candidates on an undisclosed target in immuno-oncology (Press release, Servier, DEC 16, 2021, View Source [SID1234597340]). The agreement includes upfront payments and payments for potential milestones from the early-stage discovery and the clinical trials in developing the drug candidates resulting from this collaboration.
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This collaboration builds upon a successful pilot initiated in early 2021 by Servier to blind test the unique AI, quantum, and statistical physics technologies of Aqemia.
Aqemia will take responsibility for the AI-based design to deliver optimized molecules that fulfill several small molecule design goals. Unlike most AI-based technologies that need experimental data to train their algorithms prior to starting the design, Aqemia will tackle the project from the earliest stage of the drug discovery by generating its own data with quantum and statistical physics-based calculations.
Maximilien Levesque, CEO and co-founder of Aqemia, commented, "We are thrilled to initiate this new collaboration with Servier, following a successful pilot phase that demonstrated the value brought by Aqemia’s team and technology to the rapid discovery of innovative therapeutic molecules.". He added, "Our goal is to find innovative new drugs for many, many diseases at a massive scale, thanks to our unique platform, to change the lives of patients, and this collaboration with Servier is an important step in this direction."
"We are delighted to collaborate with Aqemia to accelerate the identification of novel bioactive compounds, combining Aqemia’s unique AI-driven technology and Servier’s expertise in medicinal chemistry and computer-aided drug design (CADD)," added Christophe Meyer, Head of Molecular Modeling and Chemoinformatics at Servier. "Both teams will work together in a collaborative mindset to leverage Aqemia’s generative technology and physics-based evaluation of binding free energy to design molecules optimized according to multi-criteria design objectives."
Olivier Nosjean, Head of Open Innovation and Scientific Affairs at Servier R&D concluded, "This collaboration with Aqemia is a concrete example of Servier working side by side with a start-up to create value for both parties, working jointly to accelerate therapeutic innovation for patients. This collaboration is the result of the Start-up @ Servier program, where an initial phase of joint work allows us to carry out a key study or pilot application of a technology, before entering into a classic collaboration. This is our first application of this Start-up @ Servier model, and we are very happy to see it take shape with Aqemia, which is such a promising collaboration."