Exscientia, a Dundee-based research firm which marries AI with drug discovery, has been granted a €15 million investment by ‘innovation alliance’ company Evotec. Exscientia claims to be the first company to marry artificial intelligence with ‘seasoned drug hunters’ to make strides in medicine. In particular, the firm is hoping to ‘automate’ drug design, by using AI to improve the potency, selectivity and pharmacokinetic (movement in the body) properties of its medicines. Based in Hamburg, Evotec uses partnerships between biotechnology companies, academics and venture capitalists in their approach to furthering medicine R&D.

It is hoped that the investment will enable Exscientia to accelerate its growth, along with strengthening the relationship between the two firms in their push to discover immuno-oncology (cancer) therapeutics. In short, Exscientia’s ‘design-make-test’ cycles of its drug solutions, which already compute faster than a human is capable, could be improved even further. The investment will give also Evotec a minority stake in Exscientia and see Dr. Mario Polywka, COO of Evotec, join Exscientia’s Board of Directors.

The firms have collaborated since early 2016 in the field of small molecules in immune-oncology, a partnership which Dr. Andrew Hopkins, CEO of Exscientia, is keen to maintain. Dr. Hopkins said: “Exscientia and Evotec have built a close relationship over the past year sharing mutual interest in agile innovation. We are delighted that Evotec has made this investment for a minority equity stake, allowing Exscientia to deliver more drug discovery projects in a rapid and capital efficient manner.”

Dr. Werner Lathaler, CEO of Evotec, echoed these positive sentiments: “Working with Exscientia on a joint immuno-oncology project over the past year, we have experienced first-hand how its AI approaches, along with our medicinal chemistry platform, can positively and radically impact drug discovery.”