Frontier Ip Regulatory News (FIPP)

RNS Reach

AIM: FIPP

10 January 2020

Frontier IP Group Plc

("Frontier IP" or the "Group")

Portfolio news - Exscientia enters collaboration with Bayer AG to leverage the potential of Artificial Intelligence ("AI") in cardiovascular and oncology drug discovery

Frontier IP, a specialist in commercialising university intellectual property, is pleased to note that portfolio company Exscientia ("Exscientia" or the "Company"), a world leader in AI-driven drug discovery, that it has entered into a collaboration with Bayer AG focused on cardiovascular disease and oncology.

Under the terms of the agreement, Exscientia may be eligible to receive up to €240 million including upfront and research payments, and for meeting near term and clinical milestones. The Company may also receive sales royalties.

Exscientia's other partnerships include collaborations with Celgene, GSK, Roche, Sanofi, GT Apeiron, Rallybio and Evotec. Frontier IP currently holds a 3.25 per cent stake in the Company.

Exscientia statement in full:

BAYER AND EXSCIENTIA COLLABORATE TO LEVERAGE THE POTENTIAL OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE IN CARDIOVASCULAR AND ONCOLOGY DRUG DISCOVERY

Exscientia, the leading Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, announced today that it has entered a collaboration with Bayer AG that aims to accelerate the discovery of small molecule drugs focused on cardiovascular disease and oncology.

Under terms of the agreement, Exscientia will initially work on three projects with targets agreed between both parties. Exscientia may be eligible to receive up to €240 Million, including upfront and research payments, near term and clinical milestones. As part of the agreement, Exscientia may also receive sales royalties.

Professor Andrew Hopkins, CEO of Exscientia, commented: "We're delighted to collaborate with Bayer, a globally recognised pharmaceutical company. Since our pioneering Nature papers demonstrating the automated design of small-molecules, we have enhanced our platform and exemplified it commercially, by accelerating the discovery of future drug molecules with partners."

Dr. Joerg Moeller, Member of the Executive Committee of Bayer AG's Pharmaceuticals Division and Head of Research and Development added,

"We are driving forward digital transformation in R&D as we believe that digital technologies such as AI can simplify and speed up the discovery and development of new drugs for patients. The collaboration with Exscientia is expected to help us to achieve project milestones earlier and at the same time accelerate timelines by enabling more precise identification of suitable drug targets and lead structures."

As part of this collaboration, Exscientia will apply its Centaur Chemist™ Artificial Intelligence (AI) drug discovery platform to go beyond conventional human endeavour by using its evolutionary computing and deep learning algorithms to discover and optimise novel drug candidates at unprecedented productivity.

Exscientia statement ends

ENQUIRIES

NOTES FOR EDITORS

About Exscientia

Exscientia is at the forefront of Artificial Intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery and design. By fusing the power of AI with the discovery experience of seasoned drug hunters, Exscientia is the first company to automate drug design, surpassing conventional approaches.

Exscientia's innovative Centaur Chemist™ platform enables breakthrough productivity gains as well as new approaches to improve drug efficacy. Novel compounds are automatically designed and prioritised for synthesis by its AI systems, which rapidly evolve compounds towards the desired candidate criteria for clinical development.

Exscientia systems learn from both existing data resources and experimental data from each design cycle. The principle is similar to how a human would learn, but the AI process is far more effective at identifying and assimilating multiple subtle and complex trends to balance potency, selectivity and pharmacokinetic criteria.

As a result, the AI-driven process is more likely to achieve the end goal and to do this more rapidly and efficiently than traditional human endeavour.

Exscientia is collaborating with several leading pharmaceutical and life sciences companies, has its headquarters in Oxford, UK with further offices in the UK, USA and Japan. For more information visit us on www.exscientia.ai or follow us on Twitter @exscientialtd.

ABOUT FRONTIER IP

Frontier IP unites science and commerce by identifying strong intellectual property and accelerating its development through a range of commercialisation services. A critical part of the Group's work is involving relevant industry partners at an early stage of development to ensure technology meets real world demands and needs.

The Group looks to build and grow a portfolio of equity stakes and licence income by taking an active involvement in spin-out companies, including support for fund raising and collaboration with relevant industry partners at an early stage of development.

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