Astrazeneca is paying the pharmaceutical group CSPC $ 110 million in advance to take advantage of this artificial artificial intelligence technology based in China to discover and develop new oral drugs.
The R&D agreement announced on Friday does not specify any objective or indication. But Astrazeneca said the alliance includes an oral preclinical drug of small molecule for immune diseases. That could be a key dosing advantage, since many immunological medications are biological medications that must be administered as injections or infusions.
Astrazeneca took a closer look at CSPC’s drug research capabilities last year. Last October, the pharmaceutical giant paid $ 100 million in advance to license a pre -developed preclinical CSPC drug for high cholesterol disorder dyslipidemia, which is characterized by high levels of cholesterol transport protein, LP lipoproteins levels (a) can already be reduced by biological and genetic medications that are directed to a protein called PCSK9, but all products are managed. An oral dyslipidemia drug would give Astrazeneca a way of standing separately in the field.
The new agreement with CSPC requires that the two companies work together to discover and develop preclinical drug candidates. CSPC will carry out the investigation in its facilities in the city of Shijiazhuang, China, using its drug discovery platform promoted by AI. This technology analyzes the binding patterns that target proteins have with existing molecules.
Astrazeneca receives the right to exercise exclusive licenses options to develop and market candidates for medications that vote from collaboration. If any of those molecules reaches the market, CSPC is online to receive up to $ 3.6 billion in sales milestones, more royalties in product sales. Sharon Barr, Executive Vice President of Astrazeneca and Chief of R&D of Biopharmaceutics, said in a prepared statement that the collaboration of CSPC underlines the commitment of the pharmaceutical giant with chronic diseases.
“Forming strong collaborations allows us to take advantage of our complementary scientific experience to support the rapid discovery of new high quality therapeutic molecules to administer the next general medications,” Barr said.
Collaboration with CSPC occurs when Astrazeneca increases its presence in China. In March, the company announced that it would spend $ 2.5 billion in the next five years to build a new R&D center in Beijing. The planned installation will be the second of Astrazeneca in China, after an open research center in Shanghai.