Sanofi–Aqemia: drug discovery, 202312– collab multi-year collab up to $140m using Deep Physics platform with AI for small moledule discovery

	Period	2023-12-05
	Partner, 1st	Sanofi S.A. (Euronext: SAN, Nasdaq: SNY)
	Group	Sanofi (Group) [since May 2011]
	Partner, 2nd	Aqemia SAS
	Product	Launchpad innovation engine (Aqemia)
	Product 2	small-molecule drug
	Person	Volckmann, Jacques (Sanofi 202312 VP RnD France)

Aqemia SAS. (12/5/23). "Press Release: Aqemia Announces a Major Multi-year Collaboration of $140 Million with Sanofi". Paris.

This collaboration aims at accelerating the discovery of small molecules across various therapeutic areas, leveraging its unique Deep Physics platform combined with Generative AI. AQEMIA to receive up to a total of $140M in upfront and milestones across all programs.

AQEMIA, a pioneering pharmatech company leveraging AI and quantum-inspired physics to accelerate the discovery of small molecule drug candidates with higher probability of success in the clinic, announces a multi-year research collaboration with the global pharmaceutical company Sanofi. The collaboration aims at discovering small molecule drug candidates across several therapeutic areas. AQEMIA will leverage its unique platform that combines deep physics with generative AI at scale to identify the right chemical molecules for therapeutic targets of interest to Sanofi.

This collaboration will span the drug discovery journey from the identification of the very first hits to the selection of the development candidate. As part of this agreement, AQEMIA will design, working closely with Sanofi, novel drug molecules using its generative AI and deep physics algorithms and platform. Unlike other AI-driven platform technologies that require chemical experimental data to train on before starting the design phase, AQEMIA will generate such data in-house by performing highly efficient physics-based calculations at scale right from the beginning of each research project. Sanofi will leverage its global research and development expertise to accelerate the development of therapeutic drugs for unmet needs.

As part of the agreement, AQEMIA will be eligible to potentially receive up to $140 million based on an upfront payment and the successful completion of research and development milestones on a number of specific therapeutic targets. Sanofi will be solely responsible for wet lab research, development and commercialization activities.

“This new partnership with Aqemia is part of an ongoing story that began with our French teams three years ago. During this period, we have followed with attention and enthusiasm the development of their technology that combines theoretical physics and generative AI. We have been able to concretely assess the interest in some of our research projects during our previous collaborations.", said Jacques Volckmann, Vice-President R&D France Sanofi.

Maximilien Levesque, CEO and co-founder of AQEMIA, commented “This new collaboration builds on our existing research collaboration with Sanofi for the past two years. This whole new step is about scaling our respective expertise to multiple projects, and supporting Sanofi in discovering novel chemical matter at scale with our unique technology - including on difficult projects with limited chemical data upfront and hard issues like selectivity. We are passionately committed to discovering innovative drugs in close alliance with Sanofi's experts.”

About AQEMIA

AQEMIA is a next-gen pharmatech company generating one of the world's fastest-growing drug discovery pipeline. Our mission is to design fast innovative drug candidates for dozens of critical diseases. Our differentiation lies in our unique quantum and statistical mechanics algorithms fueling a generative AI to design novel drug candidates. The disruptive speed and accuracy of our technological platform enables us to scale drug discovery projects just like tech projects.

Contacts

AQEMIA:
Ingrid Delval, Chief of Staff to the CEO: ingrid.delval@aqemia.com