Aqemia has expanded its multi-year research collaboration with Sanofi following the nomination of a new therapeutic target, which also triggers an additional milestone payment under the existing agreement.
The partnership, first announced in December 2023, can provide Aqemia with up to $140 million in upfront and milestone payments across multiple programs. The collaboration covers the drug discovery continuum from initial hit identification through selection of development candidates. Aqemia applies its proprietary Qemi platform, which combines physics-based modeling with generative artificial intelligence, to design novel small-molecule structures against Sanofi-selected targets, while Sanofi leads laboratory research, further development, and eventual commercialization.
The joint effort now operates across several geographic hubs, with Aqemia’s researchers based in Paris and London and Sanofi teams located in Boston, Frankfurt, and Paris. According to the companies, Aqemia’s platform has been deployed on a range of Sanofi targets, including first-in-class programs with limited initial chemical data, and the collaboration framework is now established across teams.
Sanofi’s decision to nominate an additional therapeutic target broadens the scope of the agreement and signals continued interest in applying Aqemia’s technology to a wider set of discovery projects. The expansion also activates a milestone payment to Aqemia under the financial terms of the deal.
Both organizations say the collaboration is intended to validate and scale an AI- and physics-enabled approach to small-molecule design, with the goal of advancing new drug candidates more efficiently from in silico concepts into experimental testing and potential development.
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