
Flagship company teams up with Charles River for AI drug discovery
One of Flagship’s entities will be getting access to an AI drug discovery tool from contract developer and manufacturer Charles River Laboratories.
On Thursday, Charles River announced that Pioneering Medicines, a unit of Flagship Pioneering, is seeking its services. The deal will see Pioneering Medicines have access to Charles River’s and Valo Health’s AI drug discovery platform, Logica. Pioneering Medicines plans to use the platform across several targets to find and create small molecules that can be eventually turned into new therapies.
However, the details of how many targets or what diseases Pioneering Medicines will be going after were not immediately available. The financial terms of the deal were also not disclosed. Endpoints News reached out to both Charles River and Pioneering Medicines for further information.
In the release, Charles River’s chief scientific officer Julie Frearson noted that the Logica platform can get a drug candidate into development in around two years.
Pioneering Medicines, which launched in 2020, has been on a mission to build out its R&D capabilities. So far, the Flagship outfit has partnered with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation and with Novo Nordisk to forge research agreements.
“By utilizing Logica, a uniquely integrated AI platform, we’re hopeful that we can more quickly advance well-characterized molecules through the development process and create and deliver novel medicines for patients sooner,” Pioneering Medicines president Paul Biondi said in a release.
The Logica platform itself was launched last year, with Charles River partnering with Valo Health to create the platform.
Charles River has also been focused on drug discovery tech as of late. At the end of January, it acquired SAMDI Tech for $50 million after joining forces on several partnerships with the screening solution provider. The company will be folded into Charles River’s discovery and safety assessment division.
Editor’s Note: This story has been updated to reflect that Logica is jointly run between Charles River Laboratories and Valo Health