Frontier IP Group PLC’s (LON:FIPP) portfolio company, Exscientia has signed a collaboration deal worth up to £203mln (€240mln) with German pharmaceutical giant Bayer focused on oncology and cardiovascular disease.
Under the terms of the deal, Exscientia will initially work on three projects focused on accelerating the discovery of small molecule drugs using its Centaur Chemist platform, which uses artificial intelligence to identify new drugs.
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The firm will receive upfront, research and clinical milestone payments alongside the possibility of sales royalties from any treatments developed.
“Since our pioneering Nature papers demonstrating the automated design of small-molecules, we have enhanced our platform and exemplified it commercially, by accelerating the discovery of future drug molecules with partners", said Andrew Hopkins, Exscientia’s chief executive.
Frontier IP currently holds a 3.25% stake in Exscientia.