DeepMatter shares surge as it announces AstraZeneca collaboration

(Sharecast News) - DeepMatter shares surged on Monday, after it announced a collaboration with AstraZeneca to use digital technologies to improve the productivity and reproducibility of compound synthesis.
The AIM-traded firm said its scientists and those from the FTSE 100 pharmaceuticals giant would work together to improve the productivity of synthesising single compounds and compound libraries, based on "unique, structured data" harvested from its 'DigitalGlassware' technology.

It said the conditions of a reaction, such as temperature, solvent and catalysts, were important to the success of any experiment, and explained that DigitalGlassware allowed users to capture and analyse a "rich array of information" about their chemical reaction.

A multi-sensor probe sat inside the reaction vessel, providing real-time data including temperature, pressure, ultraviolet light levels and more, while an environmental sensor recorded ambient conditions.

Data from external laboratory hardware could also be recorded through software application programming interfaces.

DeepMatter said that structured data was collected and stored in the cloud alongside each process carried out during the reaction, contextualising the actions of the user in the lab.

It explained that the data, displayed in real time, could be interrogated using multiple views, enabling the analysis of reaction runs and the re-playing of syntheses.

By capturing in-situ chemical data alongside the experimental intent, observations and outcomes, it was expected that machine learning and AI algorithms could yield cost and time savings while also providing novel insights into chemistry.

"Our goal is to transform drug design using innovative digital technologies in combination with automation and artificial intelligence (AI)," said Michael Kossenjans, AstraZeneca's associate director of discovery sciences, research and development.

"To get potential new medicines to patients faster, we need to reduce the cycle time for lead identification and optimisation and look forward to working with DeepMatter to assess the potential of DigitalGlassware to help with this."

Mark Warne, chief executive officer of DeepMatter, added that the company had been impressed with the automated chemistry platforms developed at AstraZeneca sites for autonomous delivery of new lead series.

"We see an opportunity to draw together knowledge from the DigitalGlassware platform to enable machine learning and AI technologies to increase the certainty of producing a high quality and choice of candidate drug molecules.

"We look forward to progressing this exciting collaboration over the coming months as we continue to maximise the potential of the DigitalGlassware platform."

At 1355 GMT, shares in DeepMatter were up 50.73% at 3.09p.