Eli Lilly (Lilly) and Novartis, two giant pharmaceutical companies, have announced new partnerships worth US$3bn (£2.4bn) with Isomorphic Labs.
The laboratory is a spinout from GoogleDeepmind and was set up to support the development and discovery of new drugs through use of artifical intelligence (AI).
Isomorphic Labs is set to receive US$45m (£35.3m) in upfront payment from Lilly for multiple research collaborations, including small molecule therapeutics for multiple targets.
The company will also receive an upfront cash payment of US$37.5m (£29.4m) from Novartis. It will also be eligible to receive up to US$1.7bn (£1.3bn) for hitting ‘performance-based milestones’.
“We’re thrilled to embark on this partnership and apply our proprietary technology platform, the next generation of AlphaFold, and access to massive computing power to Lilly’s development programs,” said Demis Hassabis, CEO and founder of Isomorphic Labs.
“The focus we share on advancing groundbreaking drug design approaches and appreciation of state-of-the-art science makes this partnership particularly compelling.”
One of the major motivations behind the partnerships is the reduction of the drug discovery stage – which comes before clinical trials – from an average of five years to two.
“Cutting-edge AI technologies such as AlphaFold hold the potential to transform how we discover new drugs and accelerate our ability to deliver life-changing medicines for patients,” added Fiona Marshall, president of biomedical research at Novartis.
“This collaboration harnesses our companies’ unique strengths, from AI and data science to medicinal chemistry and deep disease area expertise, to realise new possibilities in AI-driven drug discovery. We are thrilled to explore uncharted frontiers together with the Isomorphic team.”
