Pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca will team up with American biotech and AI company Absci to develop antibody therapeutics to treat cancer.
AstraZeneca will partner with biologics firm Absci. According to Reuters, the pharmaceutical company is ready to allocate about $247 million for joint research.
The collaboration will focus on developing a zero-shot generative AI model that will work on developing new antibodies for cancer treatment and improving existing ones. Details on what specific type of disease the companies will study haven’t been disclosed yet.
Puja Sapra, VP of AstraZeneca, said that the goal of using artificial intelligence is not only to speed up the development of biological drugs but also to enhance their diversity.
According to the Absci official website, their AI model is capable of scanning billions of cells each week and performing laboratory confirmation of candidates in just six weeks. The company currently participates in 17 active projects. Sean McClain, CEO of Absci, expressed confidence that the developments of AstraZeneca will help to unlock the full potential of their AI model’s capabilities.
Recently, DeSci project VitaDAO allocated $300,000 to create the first biotech company of its kind, which would study longevity and cancer treatment.
