AstraZeneca has joined forces with artificial intelligence (AI) therapeutics company insitro in a strategic drug discovery and licensing agreement aimed at accelerating the discovery of new treatments for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH) and cardiomyopathies.
The collaboration will harness advanced AI systems to uncover the biological and genetic drivers of these complex diseases, identify novel drug targets and advance promising therapeutic candidates towards development.
At the heart of the partnership is insitro’s Virtual Human AI platform, which integrates large-scale human and cellular data with AI-powered target identification and medicine design. The platform will be used to investigate disease biology across both indications and advance AstraZeneca-nominated targets from discovery through to development candidate.
AstraZeneca will bring its clinical development and regulatory expertise to the partnership, with the aim of translating scientific discoveries into medicines that address the underlying causes of disease.
Identifying the biological and genetic mechanisms driving disease remains a major challenge in drug discovery. By combining AI-driven insights with pharmaceutical development expertise, the companies aim to improve target selection and accelerate the development of potential new treatments for patients with significant unmet medical needs.
Sharon Barr, Executive Vice President and Head of BioPharmaceuticals R&D at AstraZeneca, said: "We know that disease biology is incredibly complex, and one of the most critical decisions in R&D is selecting the right target. This strategic collaboration underscores our commitment to maximising the potential of cutting-edge AI to tackle the root cause of disease. Partnering with insitro, we will use advanced AI to identify the biological drivers of disease to support the rapid discovery of high-quality novel targets, advancing our ambition to deliver the next generation of medicines to patients faster."
Daphne Koller, Founder and CEO of insitro, highlighted the potential of AI to uncover new disease mechanisms and genetic insights in conditions that remain prevalent and underdiagnosed.
“MASH and cardiomyopathies are prevalent, underdiagnosed diseases where high-content data holds immense signal for uncovering disease drivers. By applying AI to these complex datasets, we can unlock greater discovery power and reveal novel genetic insights. Our platform simultaneously deconvolutes disease biology and identifies causal drivers of disease pathologies. Partnering with AstraZeneca allows us to pair our deep biological precision with their deep pharmaceutical expertise and scale with potential accelerated advancement of novel programmes through development and to patients.”
The agreement underscores the growing role of AI in drug discovery, particularly in identifying disease-driving mechanisms and prioritising targets for new medicines. For AstraZeneca and insitro, the partnership offers an opportunity to combine computational innovation and biological insights with drug development capabilities to advance potential therapies for patients.
