Somerville, MA, May 17, 2023: Aitia, the leader in the development and application of Causal AI and “Digital Twins” to discover and develop new drugs, today announced a collaboration with Servier to create new Gemini Digital Twins to help in the fight against Pancreatic Cancer. This collaboration builds on an earlier collaboration in multiple myeloma that was announced in 2022 (link here).
According to the World Health Organization, pancreatic cancer is estimated to be the seventh most common cause of cancer related deaths worldwide, accounting for more than 466,003 deaths globally in 2020 1. Compared with many other cancers, the combined five-year survival rate for pancreatic cancer -the percentage of all patients who are living five years after diagnosis – is very low at just 11%2. This is mainly due to the fact that pancreatic cancer patients are often diagnosed at stage IV, when the disease has metastasized3.
Under the terms of the collaboration, Aitia and Servier will work together to focus on translational questions to discover, validate, and strive to develop novel drug targets and drug candidates in pancreatic cancer through utilization of Aitia’s Pancreatic Cancer Digital Twins and Servier’s pre-clinical assays, therapeutic creation platforms, and expertise. Servier will receive an exclusive option to research, develop, and commercialize products directed to several novel drug targets.
“I am convinced that scientific innovation combined with the power of digital technologies will help us bring new and innovative treatments faster to patients suffering from difficult and hard to treat cancers. Our expanded collaboration with Aitia will leverage discoveries from Gemini Digital Twins and harness the full potential of AI to make significant strides towards developing deeper biology of the disease and a better understanding of translational medicine questions such as biomarkers, patient stratifications, or the discovery of drug targets. We believe this approach will generate novel mechanisms and hypotheses for potential new targeted therapies that can make a meaningful difference in the lives of patients with pancreatic cancer.” said Claude Bertrand, Executive Vice President of Research and Development and Chief Scientific Officer at Servier.
“Pancreatic cancer is one of the most devastating cancers that claims the lives of far too many people far too soon. Drug discovery and development efforts in pancreatic cancer to date have yielded very few treatment options for patients,” said Colin Hill, CEO and co-founder of Aitia. “We believe our Gemini Digital Twins, which are created from large quantities of multi-omic patient data and causal AI, have the potential to bring significant disruption to the field of pancreatic cancer and pave the way for breakthrough discoveries. We’re excited to collaborate with Servier to gain deeper insights into the underlying mechanisms driving this complex disease and accelerate the discovery of new therapies for people living with pancreatic cancer.”
“At the core of our collaboration is a shared belief in the power of science and technology to improve lives. By leveraging Aitia’s Gemini Digital Twins we’re unlocking new opportunities for innovation and discovery in the field of pancreatic cancer drug research. This is a unique and exciting moment in the fight against cancer, and we’re proud to be leading the charge,” said Fabien Schmidlin, Global Head of Translational Medicine at Servier.
References
- Pancreatic cancer: A review of epidemiology, trend, and risk factors. https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8316912/#:~:text=Pancreatic%20cancer%20remain
- American Cancer Society. Cancer Facts & Figures 2023. Atlanta: American Cancer Society; 2022. https://www.cancer.org/content/dam/cancer-org/research/cancer-facts-and-statistics/annual-cancer-facts-and-figures/2022/2022-cancer-facts-and-figures.pdf
- Pancreatic Cancer Prognosis. (n.d.) https://www.hopkinsmedicine.org/health/conditions-and-diseases/pancreatic-cancer/pancreatic-cancer-prognosis
About Aitia
Aitia is the leader in the development and application of Causal AI and Digital Twins to discover the next generation of breakthrough drugs in neurodegenerative disorders, oncology, and immunology. By leveraging the convergence of multi-omic patient data, high-performance computing, and causal learning and AI, Aitia is revealing the hidden biological mechanisms of disease to create Digital Twins. Gemini Digital Twins are being used today to discover novel therapies and accelerate R&D in Alzheimer’s Disease, Parkinson’s Disease, Huntington’s Disease, multiple myeloma, prostate cancer, and pancreatic cancer, with several more in development. Aitia’s partners include six of the top ten pharmaceutical companies, leading academic research and medical centers, medical societies, leading multi-omic data companies, and patient advocacy groups globally.
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