Sanofi has entered into a strategic collaboration agreement with AI specialist BioMap to accelerate drug discovery for biotherapeutics, with the deal potentially worth over $1bn.
The partnership will combine BioMap’s AI platform with Sanofi’s capabilities to develop “cutting-edge” AI modules for biotherapeutic drug discovery.
Traditional AI methods typically require vast amounts of labelled data to make accurate predictions, BioMap explained in a statement, adding that its own foundational models enable “one large model, trained on ubiquitous unlabelled data, to inform multiple downstream task models”.
“This approach enables superior prediction from limited data in a range of therapeutic areas, including immunology, neurology, oncology and rare diseases,” it said.
BioMap’s chief technology officer, Le Song, explained: “We have built what is essentially a biological map of proteins using data sets from public and private sources to inform our foundational models.
“Utilising automation and integrated workflows to enhance the collection of high-quality data, we can catalyse the process of new hit discovery and lead optimisation.”
Under the terms of the agreement, BioMap will receive an upfront payment of $10m and will be eligible to receive over $1bn based on the achievement of pre-clinical development, clinical development, regulatory and commercial milestones.
Matt Truppo, global head of research platforms at Sanofi, said: “By combining Sanofi’s proprietary data sets, digital infrastructure, AI and data science capabilities, and drug development expertise with BioMap’s protein large language models, high-performance computing, and deep understanding of AI, we can optimise the process of discovery and development of breakthrough biotherapeutics.”
The announcement comes just under a week after Sanofi said it had reached an agreement with Teva Pharmaceuticals worth up to $1.5bn to co-develop and co-commercialise a treatment for inflammatory bowel disease.
The candidate, Teva’s TEV’574, is an anti-TL1A therapy currently being evaluated in phase 2b clinical trials as a treatment for ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease, the two main types of inflammatory bowel disease.
The company also signed a deal with Janssen Pharmaceuticals, now Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine, to develop and commercialise an experimental vaccine candidate developed by the Johnson & Johnson unit for extraintestinal pathogenic E. coli.