BenevolentAI Announces Further Success With AstraZeneca Collaboration as Novel Heart Failure Target Selected
May 15 2024 - 1:00AM
Business Wire
BenevolentAI (“BenevolentAI” or the “Company”) (Euronext
Amsterdam: BAI), a leader in applying advanced AI to accelerate
biopharma drug discovery, announces that AstraZeneca has added a
novel target for Heart Failure to its discovery portfolio through
its collaboration with BenevolentAI.
- Novel target for Heart Failure was discovered using
BenevolentAI’s AI-drug discovery platform and experimentally
validated by AstraZeneca
- First target to be selected from the extended collaboration
with AstraZeneca, highlighting continued positive progress in the
field of Target Identification
BenevolentAI’s strategic collaboration with AstraZeneca began in
2019, and originally focused on discovering potential new
treatments for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic
kidney disease (CKD). The collaboration was expanded in January
2022 to two new disease areas, Heart Failure and Systemic Lupus
Erythematosus (SLE), demonstrating how the Benevolent Platform™ can
be applied across multiple therapeutic areas.
The innovative collaboration structure sees scientists and
technologists from the two companies work side-by-side, combining
BenevolentAI’s AI-driven drug discovery platform and biomedical
knowledge with AstraZeneca’s scientific and disease specific
expertise, leading to novel and robust Target Identification. Both
the initial and extended collaboration were agreed on similar terms
with upfront payments on signing, research funding alongside
discovery, development and commercial milestones. Additionally, the
Company will receive tiered royalties on net sales of any
commercialised products.
Heart Failure is a complex syndrome which occurs when the heart
cannot pump enough blood around the body. It is often complicated
by multiple interrelated diseases, so requires a deep understanding
of the potential disease drivers in individual patients. Current
heart failure treatments follow a “one-size-fits-all” approach.
However, due to the wide range of mechanisms by which heart failure
can occur, there remains an unmet need for new therapies as up to
50% of patients die within five years of diagnosis.
Dr Anne Phelan, Chief Scientific Officer of BenevolentAI,
said: “I am delighted that AstraZeneca has selected one of the
novel Heart Failure targets that we have been jointly working on to
enter its portfolio. Heart Failure is a therapeutic area where
there is significant medical need but, due to the size of the
market, requires a team effort and significant momentum, so we are
delighted to be working with AstraZeneca in this important field of
medicine.”
Regina Fritsche Danielson, SVP and Head of Research and Early
Development, Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism, at AstraZeneca
said: “Our ongoing collaboration with BenevolentAI has been
instrumental in uncovering new insights into complex diseases such
as CKD and Heart Failure. This shared expertise, combined with the
power of AI, has the potential to identify the right therapeutic
targets for patients with heart failure and help deliver the next
generation of innovative therapies.”
About BenevolentAI
At BenevolentAI (AMS: BAI), we serve patients by leveraging our
proprietary and validated Benevolent Platform™ that integrates AI
and science to uncover new biology, predict novel targets and
develop first-in-class or best-in-class drugs for complex diseases.
By applying proprietary advanced AI tools, in combination with
in-house scientific expertise and wet-lab facilities, BenevolentAI
is well-positioned to identify and accelerate novel drug discovery.
The Company’s business model presents multiple routes for value
creation, including discovery collaborations with pharma companies
like AstraZeneca and Merck and advancing in-house pipelines to
inflection points. Headquartered in London, with wet labs in
Cambridge (UK), BenevolentAI is at the forefront of reshaping the
future of drug discovery and delivering innovative medicines.
Category: non-regulatory
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Investors: Catherine Isted – Chief Financial Officer
investors@benevolent.ai T: +44(0) 203 781 9360
Media: James Osborn press@benevolent.ai T: +44(0) 203 781
9360
FTI Consulting: Ben Atwell/Simon Conway/Victoria Foster
Mitchell BenevolentAI@fticonsulting.com T: +44 203 727 1000