Focusing on AI and difficult-to-drug targets AstraZeneca reaches two R&D collaborations

Today, AstraZeneca has entered into R&D agreements with BenevolentAI and Scorpion Therapeutics, respectively, to use AI drug development platforms to accelerate the development of new drugs for systemic lupus erythematosus and heart failure, as well as to develop innovative anti-cancer therapies for difficult-to-treat transcription factors

AstraZeneca and BenevolentAI reached a research and development agreement in 2019 to collaborate on the development of innovative treatments for chronic kidney disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis

BenevolentAI's drug discovery platform can be applied to any disease and has the ability to discover a large number of innovative targets

The R&D collaboration with Scorpion Therapeutics will focus on transcription factors, proteins that control the expression of genes and regulate important cellular processes such as cell growth and survival

The collaboration will combine Scorpion's integrated discovery platform and AstraZeneca's expertise in cancer precision medicine development to address the challenge of targeting transcription factors

References:

[1] AstraZeneca and Scorpion Therapeutics enter agreement to discover, develop and commercialise novel cancer treatments against 'undruggable' targets.

[2] BenevolentAI Announces 3-Year Collaboration Expansion With AstraZeneca Focused On Systemic Lupus Erythematosus And Heart Failure.

(Original abridged)