PRESS: AstraZeneca signs $555 million AI gene-editing deal? FT
AstraZeneca PLC has signed a $555 million deal with San Francisco-based Algen Biotechnologies to develop gene-editing therapies using artificial intelligence, the Financial Times reported on Monday.
The Cambridge, England-based pharmaceutical company will gain exclusive rights to develop and commercialise treatments from Algen’s Crispr-based gene-editing platform.
Algen, a spinout from Jennifer Doudna’s Berkeley lab - where the gene-editing technology known as Crispr - will receive milestone payments of up to $555 million. Doudna, who won the Nobel Prize for chemistry in 2020, serves as an adviser to Algen.
AstraZeneca’s chief data scientist Jim Weatherall said that while AI’s potential in drug discovery is ‘huge’, the company is carefully introducing it ‘as a tool’ amid what he described as a ‘period of hype.’
The collaboration marks AstraZeneca’s latest move into AI-led research, following previous partnerships with companies such as BenevolentAI.
Algen will work with AstraZeneca on developing immune system disease therapies, pairing AI and Crispr to accelerate new drug discovery.
Shares in AstraZeneca were up 0.6% at 12,728.69 pence in London on Monday morning.
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