Consortium.AI to Advance New Treatments for Duchenne Using Artificial Intelligence
Insilico Medicine and A2A Pharmaceuticals, two leading artificial intelligence (AI) biotechs, are collaborating to create a new company called Consortium.AI, which will advance AI for the development of new molecules to treat Duchenne muscular dystrophy (DMD) and other orphan diseases.
Consortium.AI will feature computational new candidates designed to target specific diseases that were validated through Insilico’s AI systems.
A2A Pharmaceuticals will manage the new company by providing the development expertise for the drug candidates to get to market.
“We are pleased to partner with Insilico Medicine, combining our strengths and complementary technologies to accelerate advancement of better therapeutics into the clinic for the patients that need them,” Elena Diez Cecilia, head of business development at A2A Pharmaceuticals, said in a news release.
“Muscular dystrophy is a debilitating and terminal degenerative condition that causes muscle inflammation and wasting, and there is a huge need for more effective therapies,” she added.
To develop new treatments for Duchenne, Insilico Medicine will use its recent advances in deep neuronal networks to identify potential disease targets and create new compounds using next-generation AI systems.
Besides its management functions, A2A Pharmaceuticals’ computational tools will be applied to design highly selective therapies to difficult targets, like protein-protein interactions.
“A2A Pharmaceuticals has a team of highly talented drug hunters with a proven track record in discovery, development and licensing of the drug candidates,” said Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine.
“We are very happy to partner with their team to address the unmet medical needs for patients who are desperately waiting for solutions. This is a fantastic application for AI,” he said.
In the last two years, Insilico Medicine has been awarded several prizes due to its impact at the social level, including the Frost & Sullivan 2018 North American Artificial Intelligence for Aging Research and Drug Development Award.
A2A Pharmaceutical’s commitment to advancing innovative therapeutic agents for difficult-to-drug targets also earned it the Johnson & Johnson Innovation JLABS Artificial Intelligence quickfire challenge award and a new residency at the JLABS in New York City.
Consortium.AI is expected to enable the development of faster, less expensive, and more effective therapies for different diseases, including Duchenne MD.
Insilico Medicine uses AI for medicine discovery and aging research, and A2A Pharmaceuticals focuses on developing new compounds for unmet medical needs in cancer, drug resistance bacterial infections, and other diseases.
