Sanofi has joined hands with OpenAI and Formation Bio to forge a first-of-its-kind partnership in an effort to advance AI-powered drug development. Under the collaboration announced Tuesday, the three partners will bring to the table data, software, and tuned models to create tailored solutions across the drug development journey.
While Sanofi has previously partnered with numerous AI-powered drug discovery firms such as Aqemia, Atomwise, Exscientia, and Insilico, the company is now looking to apply AI at scale across the entire drug development spectrum. “AI model customisations will be an important foundation in our efforts to shape the future of drug development for pharma,” said Sanofi CEO Paul Hudson, adding that the company will share its proprietary data to build these models.
Meanwhile, OpenAI — known for its revolutionary product ChatGPT — will offer advanced AI capabilities, including model fine-tuning and deep AI acumen, alongside thought partnership and resources. OpenAI chief operating officer Brad Lightcap touted a “massive potential for AI to accelerate drug development.”
Lastly, Formation Bio, an AI-propelled pharma with its own portfolio of assets, will contribute engineering resources, expertise in AI-pharma convergence, and its tech-enabled development platform to the partnership. “By creating and implementing customised AI agents and models…companies…can begin to scale with unprecedented productivity,” Formation Bio CEO Benjamine Liu explained.