Almirall and Absci Corporation have announced that they will be expanding their ongoing artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery collaboration to include a second dermatology target selected by Almirall.
The alliance, originally announced in November 2023, combines Almirall’s dermatological capabilities with Absci’s Integrated Drug Creation platform and has already led to the successful delivery of AI-designed, functional antibody leads against a difficult-to-drug target, the partners said.
Under the terms of the agreement, Absci is applying its generative AI platform and wet lab capabilities to design and validate therapeutic candidates, with Almirall leading the preclinical and clinical development programmes for these candidates.
In addition to product royalties, Absci is eligible to receive up to approximately $650m in upfront fees, research and development (R&D) and post-approval milestone payments across both programmes.
Almirall’s chief scientific officer, Karl Ziegelbauer, said: “Using advanced AI capabilities to design therapeutic candidates against historically challenging disease targets is a highly promising approach and Absci’s de-novo AI platform capabilities have already demonstrated early success.
“We are pleased to expand our collaboration as we continue to harness AI to help us develop innovative treatments for patients living with severe skin conditions.”
Absci’s platform combines AI models with a synthetic biology data engine, which enables the “rapid design of innovative therapeutics that address challenging therapeutic targets”, according to the generative AI company.
Sean McClain, Absci’s founder and chief executive officer, said: “The progress in our collaboration is a testament that AI de novo drug design is a successful approach to unlock novel biology where traditional drug discovery approaches have failed.
“We’re proud of this milestone and excited to deepen our collaboration with Almirall with the goal of bringing a new generation of AI-created therapeutics for dermatology patients.”
The deal underscores Almirall’s focus on medical dermatology. In March, the company hosted the 16th edition of its Skin Academy, a conference that encourages collaboration and the development of new methods and solutions in the field of dermatology.
The event brought together a broad range of experts and clinicians from across the world, Almirall said, and this year’s offering featured a programme aimed at sharing scientific knowledge on skin diseases, their treatment and clinical best practice.