AI-powered, $13 million drug discovery and development collaboration set to jointly advance multiple targets.

Fosun Pharma, an innovation-driven international healthcare group based in China, and Insilico Medicine, an end-to-end AI-driven drug discovery and development company, have announced they have entered into a collaboration agreement to advance the discovery and development of drugs targeting a number of different targets globally through the use of AI technology.

This strategic collaboration includes an AI-driven drug discovery research and development (R&D) collaboration on four biological targets, as well as the co-development of Insilico’s QPCTL program. Insilico will receive a total upfront payment of $13 million for the R&D collaboration projects and the co-development of the QPCTL program, potential milestone-based payments, and share commercialisation profits from the QPCTL program. In addition, Fosun Pharma will make an equity investment in Insilico.

“We are pleased to enter into a strategic collaboration with Insilico,” said Yifang Wu, Chairman and CEO of Fosun. “Fosun Pharma is committed to promoting innovative R&D and is oriented towards fulfilling unmet clinical needs and improving products’ accessibility. We look forward to working with Insilico to leverage the technological and clinical development strengths of both companies, jointly improving the efficiency of innovative drug R&D, and benefiting more patients worldwide [1].”

The collaboration aims to combine Insilico’s end-to-end AI-driven drug discovery platforms and Fosun Pharma’s clinical development and commercial expertise to discover and develop a portfolio of novel therapeutics. Pursuant to the collaboration agreement, Insilico will take responsibility for delivering a preclinical candidate for the QPCTL program and expanding it to the IND stage, after which, Fosun Pharma will then conduct human clinical studies and co-develop the candidate globally.

In parallel, Fosun Pharma’s R&D team will nominate four therapeutic targets to be assessed by Insilico’s AI platform and R&D team, who are responsible for advancing drug discovery candidates to the IND stage. As part of the collaboration, Fosun Pharma will secure access to Insilico’s PandaOmics and Chemistry42 platforms in order to advance Fosun Pharma’s internal AI-powered drug discovery and development efforts.

Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, Founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, told Longevity.Technology that the QPCTL program, which came out of Insilico’s end-to-end AI engine, is a very promising, possibly record-setting target in immuno-oncology.

“While other companies in our space have announced partnerships around a very large number of undisclosed targets, we decided to partner on just four to ensure that we have the capacity to do more partnerships, advance the platform, and internal pipeline,” he said. “We are committed to novelty, excellence, and continuous improvement and just like we pioneered many of the technologies in use today, we strive to invent new methods, come up with disruptive ideas, and turn these ideas into platforms and therapeutic programs.”
[1] https://www.fosunpharma.com/en/news/news-details-3868.html