Takeda secures AI platform from biotech startup Iambic for drug discovery
Deal worth up to $1.7 billion targets oncology and inflammation using automated protein-ligand prediction models
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San Diego-based biotechnology startup Iambic announced a multi-year technology and discovery collaboration agreement with Takeda that will use Iambic’s industry leading AI drug discovery models to advance a select set of high-priority small molecule programs, initially in Takeda’s oncology and Gastrointestinal and Inflammation therapeutic areas. Through the agreement, Takeda will also gain access to NeuralPLexer, Iambic’s industry leading model for predicting protein-ligand complexes.
“Our collaboration with Takeda is a powerful opportunity to apply our AI-driven discovery and development platform, and we are excited to partner with their team to quickly advance new and better drug candidates,” said Tom Miller, PhD, Co-Founder and CEO of Iambic. “This collaboration further validates our industry-leading technology and highlights both the breadth of our discovery capabilities and the scale at which we can operate.”
“We are excited to be able access Iambic’s proprietary computational platform while we work with their team to develop small molecule therapeutics with the potential to address critical unmet patient needs,” said Chris Arendt, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research at Takeda. “At Takeda, our focus is on accelerating the development of impactful new medicines by leveraging cutting-edge science, including the latest advances in artificial intelligence. Iambic’s small molecule platform aligns with this ambition and offers the potential to de-risk candidate selection, improve probability of success, and more quickly advance select programs from early project start to IND.”
Under the terms of the agreement, Iambic will receive upfront, research cost, and technology access payments and is eligible to receive success-based payments that could exceed $1.7 billion. The company is also eligible to receive royalties on net sales of any products generated from this collaboration.
The collaboration will utilize Iambic’s AI models as well as the company’s fully integrated, high-throughput, and automated wet lab capabilities. These core capabilities support a rapid Design-Make-Test-Analyze cycle that can accelerate program advancement.
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