A spinout from the University of Dundee has formed a landmark drug discovery partnership with biopharma company Celgene.

Exscientia, which is developing a reputation as an industry leader in AI drug discovery, will receive an initial $25 million (£18.8m) payment and eligibility to receive substantial milestones based on the commercial and clinical success of the programme.

The collaboration will use AI to accelerate the discovery of small molecule therapeutic drug candidates for three therapeutic programmes for Celgene; specifically in the areas of oncology and autoimmunity.

Applying AI to improve the speed of treatment delivery for patients is also a key goal of the collaboration, Exscientia said.

Professor Andrew Hopkins, CEO of Exscientia, commented: “We’re incredibly proud to collaborate with Celgene and to sign another partnership with a key industry player, reinforcing our place at the forefront of AI drug discovery.

“Today, patients can wait more than ten years from initial drug discovery to its availability as a treatment. With autoimmune diseases and cancer rates increasing, the pharmaceutical industry’s R&D productivity needs to dramatically improve – and technology is a key part of this.”

The deal follows a number of partnerships with industry giants, including GSK, Sanofi, Evotec and Roche. In early 2019, the company also secured a $26 million (£19.6m) Series B investment to expand its capabilities, further develop its platform and build its proprietary drug pipeline.

Dr Lawrence Hamann, corporate VP, Chemistry at Celgene, added: “We are tremendously excited to collaborate with such leaders in the development and application of AI tools to accelerate drug discovery.

“Exscientia have a proven track record of success in this emergent field, and we believe that reducing the number of iteration cycles in optimising structure-activity and developability relationships through their platform will very favourably impact our ability to deliver high-quality development candidates.”