Absci and EQRx are working together to accelerate the production of cheaper, protein-based therapeutics
The partners aim to increase efficiency and reduce schedules to produce next-generation protein-based therapeutics at more affordable costs for patients.
The alliance will benefit from Absci’s drug discovery technology for research and development activities, as well as EQRx’s clinical development and commercial capabilities.
Sean McClain, Founder and CEO of Absci, told BioPharma reporter: “EQRx came to us specifically to leverage our ability to quickly discover new protein-based drugs of any modality – think of new formats like T-Cell Engager, Bispecifics, VHHs – Using our AI models and proprietary assays to develop and optimize candidates in full-length format and in the scalable production cell line. In partnership with EQRx, we look forward to adding new drugs in these next-generation formats for priority targets and advisories to their portfolio. ”
Detailed terms of the partnership are not being disclosed at this time, a spokesman said, but the companies reported that Absci has the ability to make additional investments as development stages progress in order to generate a higher percentage of product sales.
Erect the system
EQRx was introduced in January 2020; It is building a pipeline of new drug candidates to fight diseases such as cancer and inflammatory diseases. She is trying to turn the system upside down: By using proven drug targets and focusing on efficiency, as well as building partnerships with health systems and payers, she expects a higher probability of regulatory success, lower risk-adjusted drug development costs and a more streamlined access model.
To accelerate its growth, it announced a proposed merger with CM Life Sciences III, a special acquisition company, SPAC, in August this year that would allow the startup to go public on the Nasdaq and up to 1.8 Billion according to the two parties.
Data will accelerate drug production
The Absci platform was developed to develop and generate protein-based drug candidates and to test them for their optimal function. We spoke to McClain in July following the successful IPO of the Vancouver, Washington-based company.
“One of the exciting things about our technology is that we can study billions of different drug candidates in a single experiment to examine protein functionality and manufacturing capabilities. We feed this data into our deep learning models and can ultimately go completely in silico, where we can predict the best drug candidate for a specific target and the associated production cell line. In the future, data will power our business and ultimately allow us to get the best drugs to patients at a truly unprecedented rate, “he said at the time.
The company says protein-based drugs or biologics have already changed vaccine development, oncology therapies, and treatments for chronic diseases like diabetes, but these breakthroughs only scratch the surface of what is possible. “The next generation of biologics will be able to treat the most complex diseases such as neurological and autoimmune diseases in a very targeted and even personalized way. Proteins have unlimited potential and can be made extremely specific. “