Exscientia, a UK-based drug discovery technology developer, received $26m on Monday in a series B round backed by pharmaceutical company Celgene, medicine developer Evotec and GT Healthcare Capital Partners.
Founded in 2012 as a spinout of University of Dundee, Exscientia has devised an automated drug discovery technology that applies artificial intelligence to insights gained from historic datasets and experimental information amassed during drug design programs. Its offering includes AI discovery system Centaur Chemist.
In addition to the series B funding, Exscientia has announced collaboration agreement with pharmaceutical firm Roche that is up to CHF67m ($68m) in size, and which will enable the corporate to harness Centaur Chemist for its preclinical drug discovery activities.
Under the terms of the agreement, Roche will retain exclusive rights to develop and market assets resulting from its use of Centaur Chemist, while Exscientia will be entitled to royalties on any eventual sales.
Exscientia already has partnerships in place with Evotec and pharmaceutical firms GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi. Evotec had previously invested $17.7m in the company in September 2017.
The series B funding will help Exscientia enhance its underlying technology and support the progress of its most advanced projects towards the clinic. It aims to prepare its first therapeutic candidates for investigational new drug status within the next year.
– The original version of this article appeared on our sister site, Global University Venturing.