Frontier IP Group PLC (AIM:FIPP), a firm specialising in the commercialisation of intellectual property, announced in a statement today that its portfolio company Exscientia has entered into a collaboration with Merck to discover novel small molecule drug candidates in the fields of oncology, neuroinflammation and immunology.
Under the terms of the agreement, Exscientia will receive an upfront payment of US$20 million from Merck.
Exscientia is also eligible for additional payments of up to US$674 million if all milestones for three initial programs are met.
The collaboration will utilise Exscientia's AI-driven precision drug design capabilities to address previously unsolved drug design challenges in the targeted therapeutic areas.
Three initial targets have been identified for the partnership. Exscientia and Merck may also identify additional targets in oncology, immunology or other mutually agreed disease areas.
"We're pleased that Merck chose our team of experts for this AI-led drug discovery collaboration," said professor Andrew Hopkins, founder and chief executive of Exscientia.
He added: “We look forward to complementing their outstanding scientific acumen with our integrated technology platform and ability to generate novel data in order to address some of the hardest drug design challenges in cancer and immunology."