Sanofi wants to understand how digital technology can improve its anti-cancer drug research USD 270 million pledged Artificial intelligence and precision medicine startup Owkin started a multi-drug alliance.
According to the agreement, Sanofi will use Owkin’s technology to find new cancer biological indicators, which may become targets for anti-cancer drugs. The Paris-based pharmaceutical giant will then build models that can predict treatment response. Sanofi is making a US$180 million equity investment in Owkin and paying US$90 million for the three-year alliance. Owkin is also expected to receive additional research and milestone payments.
Owkin, which has two headquarters in Paris and New York, said it believes that medical research should collaborate while maintaining patient privacy, and it has developed technology to achieve these goals. The company uses a “joint learning” method for data analysis.
The whole of cancer patient data consists of information in multiple locations and multiple formats. The company did not put this data into a single database for Owkin to analyze, but instead deployed its machine learning algorithms to the data source. Data remains local and private, and algorithms can learn from it. After they learn, these algorithms return to a central position. The same algorithm can then be sent to other locations, where they continue to learn. Anna Huyghues-Despointes, Head of Strategy at Owkin, Tell MedCity News last year Federated learning technology allows researchers to collaborate on projects without the need to aggregate data in specific locations.
Owkin’s approach allowed the company to build a global network of decentralized data sets. Sanofi’s goal is to use this resource when developing and testing its anti-cancer drugs. The agreement with Owkin covers four types of cancer: non-small cell lung cancer, triple negative breast cancer, mesothelioma, and multiple myeloma.
Sanofi’s executive vice president and chief digital officer, Arnaud Robert, said in a prepared statement: “Owkin’s unique method of applying artificial intelligence to patient data in collaboration with multiple academic medical centers supports our innovation in research and development. The ambition of using data in a way.” “We are working hard to take precision medicine to a new level and discover innovative treatments that are most beneficial to patients.”
Owkin was co-founded in 2016 by former oncologists Thomas Clozel and Gilles Wainrib (computer scientist and professor at the Ecole Normale Supérieure in Paris). Owkin stated on its website that Sanofi’s equity investment Open Its Series B financing has now put this startup into a “unicorn” state-a company valued at $1 billion or more. Owkin has previously extended its financing round. It started its Series A financing in 2018 with 11 million U.S. dollars.That round Reached 70 million U.S. dollars last year.
Images of Flickr users Ed Osman Through knowledge sharing license
