AstraZeneca cooperates with Immunai in the development of cancer drugs

(Reuters) – AstraZeneca will pay $18 million to biotechnology company Immunai Inc. to use the New York-based company's AI model of the immune system to make certain cancer drug tests more efficient, the company said on Thursday.

This is the latest in a series of collaborations by British-Swedish pharmaceutical company AstraZeneca to use artificial intelligence for drug research and development, including a $247 million deal late last year with US company Absci to develop an antibody to fight cancer.

Founded in 2018, Immunai uses single-cell genomics, a technique for understanding the genetic composition of individual cells, and machine learning to discover and improve the development of novel therapeutics by decoding the immune system.

The collaboration will focus on clinical decision-making, including dose selection and biomarker identification, using Immunai's platform, and AstraZeneca has the option to extend the duration and scope of the collaboration later, the US company said.

In the first phase, AstraZeneca will gain access to Immunai's AI platform to gain potential insights into the mechanisms of action of immunotherapies, said Iker Huerga, chief data scientist for oncology research and development at AstraZeneca.

(Reporting by Yadarisa Shabong in Bengaluru; Editing by Vijay Kishore)