Insilico and Sanofi Reach Milestone with AI-Powered Cancer Drug Lead
Insilico Medicine, an AI-driven biotech firm, has reached a major milestone in its research collaboration with French pharma giant Sanofi.
Since partnering in November 2022, the companies have developed an AI-powered lead candidate with first-in-class potential to target an “undruggable” transcription factor involved in cancer.
The breakthrough, achieved through Insilico’s Pharma.AI platform, aims to tackle previously challenging oncology targets.
Using Insilico Medicine’s AI platform PandaOmics, research teams from Insilico and Sanofi focused on novel disease targets that have historically been difficult to treat with conventional drug approaches.
The team has advanced drug development by refining leads through Chemistry42, Insilico’s adaptable AI engine for drug design, generating new chemical structures to overcome traditional druggability challenges.
“It is a remarkable achievement for the Insilico team to work closely with Sanofi, and deliver this milestone,” said Feng Ren, co-CEO and chief scientific officer at Insilico Medicine.
“Empowered by AI, the team has delivered a novel lead for a small molecule inhibitor with first-in-class potential targeting a transcription factor, which is known to be an “undruggable” target, with no reports of any other known molecules targeting it. This demonstrated the power of AI in drug discovery especially for novel targets.”
According to both companies, Insilico has now decided to take over this program independently following a shift in Sanofi’s priorities. However, they will continue collaborating on other potential targets using Insilico’s AI discovery tools.
Moving forward, the collaboration aims to use Insilico Medicine’s AI platform, Pharma.AI, to develop drug candidates for up to six new targets.
“Insilico shares Sanofi’s vision for the potential of AI to set records and new benchmarks in drug discovery,” said Alex Zhavoronkov, CEO and founder Insilico Medicine.
“Together, we work towards the goal to complete our next project even faster and more effectively, pushing the boundaries of what is possible in drug discovery and development with the support of AI.”
The agreement provides for up to $21.5 million in upfront and target nomination fees, with potential milestone payments totaling $1.2 billion as research, development, and sales goals are achieved. It also includes tiered royalties on any resulting products.