Research & Development

The collaboration began in 2019, with its original focus being the discovery of potential new treatments for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) and chronic kidney disease (CKD), later being expanded in 2022 to two new disease areas ‒ heart failure and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE).

Throughout the collaboration, scientists and technologists from the two companies have worked together using BenevolentAI’s artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery platform and biomedical knowledge, along with AstraZeneca’s scientific and disease-specific expertise.

The initial and extended collaboration were agreed on similar terms, including upfront payments on signing, research funding and discovery, development and commercial milestones.

Dr Anne Phelan, chief scientific officer at BenevolentAI, commented: “I am delighted that AstraZeneca has selected one of the novel heart failure targets that we have been jointly working on to enter its portfolio. Heart failure is a therapeutic area where there is significant medical need but, due to the size of the market, requires a team effort and significant momentum, so we are delighted to be working with AstraZeneca in this important field of medicine.”

Regina Fritsche Danielson, SVP and head of Research and Early Development, Cardiovascular, Renal and Metabolism, at AstraZeneca, added: “Our ongoing collaboration with BenevolentAI has been instrumental in uncovering new insights into complex diseases such as CKD and Heart Failure. This shared expertise, combined with the power of AI, has the potential to identif y the right therapeutic targets for patients with heart failure and help deliver the next generation of innovative therapies.”