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Orion and Aitia enter AI-powered drug discovery and development

ORION CORPORATION
PRESS RELEASE
25 SEPTEMBER 2024 at 15:00 EEST

Orion and Aitia collaborate on AI-assisted drug discovery and drug simulation in oncology

Orion Corporation and Aitia, an AI-powered biotechnology company and leader in the development and application of causal AI and “digital twins” to discover and develop new drugs, today announced that the companies have entered into an agreement to create new digital Gemini twins to assist in the fight against cancer.

Cancer is a serious global health problem that affects millions of people worldwide and places a significant burden on healthcare systems. In 2022 alone, nearly 20 million new cases of cancer were diagnosed and 10 million people lost their lives from the disease.1. The global cancer burden is expected to increase significantly. If current trends continue, 35 million new cases are expected to occur each year by 2050 due to aging and population growth. This growing challenge highlights the urgent need for innovative treatments. The collaboration between Orion and Aitia to discover and develop new cancer drugs is designed to meet this need.

Under the agreement, Orion and Aitia will collaborate and focus on translational questions to discover and validate new drug targets and develop drug candidates across multiple oncology indications by leveraging Aitia's digital twins in combination with Orion's preclinical and clinical data and expertise. Orion will have an exclusive option to discover, develop and commercialize products directed against certain new drug targets identified by Aitia.

In addition, Aitia is entitled to receive certain upfront payments, as well as development and regulatory milestone payments totaling more than $10 million per drug target, as well as tiered single-digit royalties on sales of products covered by the agreement.

“We are excited to collaborate with Aitia to leverage the power of their Gemini Digital Twins and Causal AI technology in the discovery and development of new cancer treatments. Working with them gives us the opportunity to push the boundaries of what is possible. By leveraging their cutting-edge technology, we aim to gain deeper insights into the complex biology of cancer and ultimately accelerate the development of novel therapies that could significantly improve patient outcomes,” said Out of stockSenior Vice President, Innovative Medicines and Research & Development at Orion.

“Our collaboration with Orion is particularly exciting as it brings together our Gemini Digital Twins, which leverage large amounts of multiomic patient data as well as causal AI and simulation, with Orion's deep expertise in oncology drug discovery and development. By creating highly accurate and predictive disease models, we can uncover previously hidden mechanisms and pathways, accelerating the discovery of new, more effective drugs. This partnership represents a major step forward in our shared mission to provide innovative treatment options for cancer patients,” said Colin HillCEO and co-founder of Aitia. “We are excited about what the future holds as we continue to push the boundaries of what is possible in cancer research and treatment. This collaboration is another step forward and we remain true to our commitment to discovering and developing breakthrough therapies that can give patients and their families new hope.”

About Aitia
Aitia is an AI-powered biotechnology company that uses causal AI and creates Gemini Digital Twins to discover the next generation of breakthrough medicines for neurodegenerative diseases and oncology, including a leading program for Huntington's disease. By leveraging the convergence of multi-omic patient data, high-performance computing, and causal AI, Aitia's Gemini Digital Twins reveal the hidden biological mechanisms of disease to transform the discovery and development of new therapeutics. To date, Gemini Digital Twins have been used to accelerate research and development in oncology, neurodegeneration, cardiometabolism, and immunology.

About Orion
Orion is a global Finnish pharmaceutical company – a building block of well-being for over a hundred years. We develop, produce and market human and veterinary medicines and active pharmaceutical ingredients. Orion has an extensive portfolio of proprietary and generic medicines and consumer health products. The core therapy areas of our pharmaceutical research and development are oncology and pain. Proprietary products developed by Orion are used to treat cancer, neurological diseases and respiratory diseases, among others. Orion's net sales in 2023 amounted to EUR 1,190 million and the company employed around 3,600 people at the end of the year. Orion's A and B shares are listed on Nasdaq Helsinki.

contact person:
Outi Vaarala, SVP, Innovative Medicines and Research & Development, Orion Corporation
Phone +358 10 426 3472

References
1 Global Cancer Statistics 2022: Information on the number of new cancer cases (20 million) and cancer-related deaths (10 million) in 2022 comes from GLOBOCAN 2020, a project of the International Agency for Research on Cancer (IARC), part of the World Health Organization.

editor:
Orion Corporation
communication
Orionintie 1A, FI-02200 Espoo, Finland

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