Insilico Medicine, a drug discovery startup, has recently announced a second licensing agreement with the Menarini Group, an Italian pharmaceutical company. This collaboration aims to address unmet needs in oncology by developing a novel AI-discovered preclinical asset.
The agreement grants Stemline Therapeutics, a subsidiary of Menarini, global rights to develop and commercialize a selective small molecule inhibitor with broad anti-tumor activity. This asset, developed using Insilico’s Chemistry42 AI platform, has successfully completed preclinical trials.
As part of the agreement, Insilico will receive a $20 million upfront payment, with the total potential value of the deal exceeding $550 million through development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, as well as tiered royalties. This partnership follows Menarini’s 2024 acquisition of MEN2312, another AI-discovered asset targeting KAT6 inhibitors for breast cancer, which rapidly progressed into clinical trials.
Elcin Barker Ergun, CEO of the Menarini Group, expressed excitement about expanding their collaboration with Insilico, a leader in generative AI. This partnership allows them to address critical gaps in oncology treatment and reach more patients globally with innovative therapies.
The larger trend in the pharmaceutical industry highlights the potential of AI to revolutionize drug discovery and development. Generative AI (genAI) is playing an increasingly important role in accelerating the development of targeted therapies and addressing unmet needs in cancer treatment. Major technology companies like Google DeepMind and startups such as Israeli startup CytoReason are leveraging AI to accelerate drug discovery and improve patient outcomes.
In October, AION Labs launched ProPhet, a startup using AI to accelerate drug discovery by identifying high-affinity small molecules for challenging protein targets. This technology aims to refine early-stage processes, reduce time and costs, and ultimately bring new treatments to market faster.
IBM and German pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim have also partnered to leverage advanced large-scale neural network architectures to accelerate the discovery of therapeutic antibodies for various medical conditions. Additionally, Australian researchers have developed PSICHIC, an AI tool that decodes protein-molecule interactions from sequence data without costly 3D rendering, streamlining the drug discovery process.
In South Korea, research institutes are using the power of AI to accelerate cancer drug discovery in a four-phase project. These initiatives leverage machine learning and big data to improve the efficiency and effectiveness of drug development.
Overall, the collaboration between Insilico Medicine and the Menarini Group represents a significant step forward in harnessing the power of AI to drive innovation in drug discovery and develop new therapies for patients in need. This partnership exemplifies the growing trend of utilizing AI to revolutionize the pharmaceutical industry and improve patient care.
