Dundee-founded drug discovery company Exscientia has entered into a collaboration agreement with GT Apeiron, whose parent GT Healthcare invested in the spinout’s series B round.
Exscientia, a UK-based drug discovery technology spinout of University of Dundee, entered into a collaboration agreement today with fellow drug discovery company GT Apeiron Therapeutics.
The deal’s financial terms have not been disclosed, however Exscientia will be entitled to a stake in GT Apeiron and could also receive milestone payments and royalties as part of the agreement.
Founded in 2012, Exscientia owns an artificial intelligence-equipped drug discovery technology that automatically connects outcomes of historic research with the implications of ongoing drug design programs to facilitate the identification of therapeutic targets.
The company has development partnerships in place with drug firms Celgene, GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi, and with drug discovery company Evotec.
China-based GT Apeiron was formed recently by life sciences-focused private equity vehicle GT Healthcare Capital Partners, which backed Exscientia’s $26m series B round in January 2019. It will use Exscientia’s technology in a bid to deliver high-impact medicines, with an initial focus on oncology.
Evotec and Celgene joined GT Healthcare and commercialisation firm Frontier IP in the aforementioned series B round, after Evotec had ploughed $17.7m of funding into Exscientia in September 2017.
Frontier IP owned 3.3% in Exscientia at the time of the GT Apeiron announcement.
