Another day, another artificial intelligence (AI) deal. Tuesday was Sanofi’s turn to partner up, striking a deal worth up to $140 million to work on the discovery of small molecules with its compatriot Aqemia.
Paris-based Aqemia was spun out of École normale supérieure in 2019 to build on more than a decade of research into quantum physics algorithms. The startup is using the algorithms and generative AI to try to accelerate drug discovery, both in collaboration with partners and to fuel its internal pipeline. Ultimately, the goal is to create biotech spin-offs to advance dozens of wholly or partly owned drug candidates.
The approach, which entails running physics-based calculations to generate data, has caught the eye of fellow French native Sanofi. Working with the drugmaker, Aqemia will apply its physics algorithm and generative AI to the discovery of small molecules in multiple therapeutic areas. In return, Sanofi will hand Aqemia up to $140 million in upfront and milestone payments.
In a statement, Maximilien Levesque, CEO and co-founder of Aqemia, said that the collaboration builds on an existing relationship with Sanofi. French teams at Sanofi have worked with Aqemia in recent years, enabling them to get a handle on the potential of the technology and leading the company to step up its partnership with the AI startup.
“This whole new step is about scaling our respective expertise to multiple projects and supporting Sanofi in discovering novel chemical matter at scale with our unique technology, including on difficult projects with limited chemical data upfront and hard issues like selectivity,” Levesque said in a release.
Sanofi joins Servier, another French drugmaker, on the list of companies working with Aqemia. Servier began working with Aqemia two years ago, teaming up to accelerate the discovery of small molecules, and extended the collaboration at the start of 2023. The partners are going after an immuno-oncology target that is deemed undruggable.
For Sanofi, the partnership is part of a broader push into AI. Talking to investors on a quarterly results conference call in October, Houman Ashrafian, the company’s head of research and development, said Sanofi “is strongly deploying AI, data science and computational expertise throughout the R&D engine to further accelerate our efforts and deliver better and faster options to patients.”
Many of Sanofi’s peers have similar ambitions, and although it is early days, questions about the impact of AI remain unanswered. AstraZeneca disclosed a deal with Absci over the weekend and rival companies such as Boehringer Ingelheim, Merck KGaA and Novo Nordisk have also inked AI collaborations in recent months.