Sanofi and Exscientia announce new metabolic disease collaboration

Sanofi has announced a new drug research alliance with Exscientia, a British company specialising in AI-driven drug discovery.

The strategic research collaboration and licence option agreement targets the field of metabolic disease, an area of research that is currently hampered by a paucity of single targets amenable to drug development.

To address this, Exscientia will apply its AI-driven platform to identify and validate combinations of drug targets that could work synergistically with the company's bispecific small molecule design strategy, which creates molecules that are compatible with multiple drug targets.

Exscientia will be responsible for all compound design, while chemistry synthesis will be carried out by Sanofi, which will also handle further assays, preclinical experiments and subsequent trials for compounds progressing to the clinic.

The total amount potentially payable by Sanofi to Exscientia is 250 million euros (209.8 million pounds), based on the achievement of clinical milestones.

Andrew Hopkin, chief executive officer of Exscientia, said: "Sanofi has put together an excellent experimental backbone for this collaboration and we look forward to delivering high-value projects for the company."

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