SAN FRANCISCO, Jan 13 (Reuters) - AstraZeneca has agreed to buy Boston-based Modella AI, the companies said on Tuesday, as the drug industry increases its use of artificial intelligence to accelerate the discovery of new drugs.
The companies did not disclose financial terms. In a press release, Modella AI said its "foundation models" and AI agents would be integrated into oncology research and development to support clinical development and biomarker discovery.
"Oncology drug development is becoming more complex, more data-rich and more time-sensitive," said Gabi Raia, Modella AI's chief commercial officer, adding that joining AstraZeneca would allow it to deploy its tools in global trials and clinical settings.
AstraZeneca said that this was the first acquisition of an AI firm by a big pharmaceutical company.
In an interview at the JP Morgan Healthcare Conference, AstraZeneca Chief Financial Officer Aradhana Sarin said the acquisition would "supercharge" the company's quantitative pathology and biomarker discovery efforts by bringing more data and AI capabilities in-house.
The deal was one of a number of pacts between major drug firms and AI companies that were unveiled at the healthcare conference, including a $1 billion collaboration between Nvidia and Eli Lilly. They plan to build a new research lab using Nvidia's latest-generation AI chips.
Modella will accelerate AstraZeneca’s efforts to make pathology more quantitative - using computers to analyze biopsies for relevant proteins and correlate them with clinical data - so AstraZeneca can develop “highly targeted biomarkers and then highly targeted therapeutics,” Sarin said.
The deal is an expansion of a multi-year collaboration that the companies unveiled in July.
Sarin said that partnership served as a "test drive," adding that AstraZeneca ultimately wanted Modella's data, foundation models and AI talent in-house.
She said AI tools could be used to more rapidly select patients for drug trials, which could increase the odds of clinical success and cut related costs.
(Reporting by Maggie Fick; Editing by Thomas Derpinghaus)
LATEST POSTS
- 1
Ukrainian man arrested in Germany on suspicion of spying for Russia - 2Meet the Artemis crew in NASA's first astronaut mission to the moon in more than a half-century
- 3This Asian country is the next hot travel destination, and this is one of its best hotels
- 4FDA updates risk classification for voluntary shredded cheese recall
- 5Brilliant and Gleaming: Excellence and Skincare Practices
- Israel violated ceasefire with Hezbollah more than 10,000 times, UNIFIL claims
- Eco-Accommodating Kitchen Machines: 4 Picks for a Manageable Home
- Step by step instructions to Get a good deal on Your Rooftop Substitution Venture
- AI is making spacecraft propulsion more efficient – and could even lead to nuclear-powered rockets
- A volcanic eruption may have catalyzed the plague's arrival in Europe, study suggests
- Jury says Johnson & Johnson owes $40 million to 2 cancer patients who used talcum powders
- Hezbollah uses ambulances, paramedic uniforms, as disguise for terrorist activity, IDF says
- NASA’s Artemis II launch leaves Americans in awe: ‘We’re going to the frickin’ moon!’
- How to see the Ursids, the final meteor shower of 2025
