The business activity has been increasing in the pharmaceutical AI space over Q3 2020, judging by an increased number of transactions and partnership announcements in this period. 

 

The most significant deals and collaborations in Q3 2020 include: 

 

• XtalPi — SoftBank Vision Fund 2, PICC Capital, and MorningSide Venture Capital: XtalPi has raised $319M in funding round C. The funding will be used for the further development of XtalPi’s Intelligent Digital Drug Discovery and Development (ID4) platform.

 

• AstraZeneca intends to open AI and drug research centers in China and make a $1 billion capital infusion into Chinese biotech innovations.

 

• Exscientia — Bayer: Exscientia has entered a 3-year $266 million agreement with Bayer. The partnership will leverage AI to accelerate the discovery of small molecules candidates programs for oncology and cardiovascular diseases.

 

• Schrödinger — Bayer: Schrödinger has entered a 5-year agreement with Bayer to work on a new virtual platform for small molecules design, which will be able to design and screen synthetically feasible compounds.

 

• Schrödinger — Google Cloud: Schrödinger enters a 3-year collaboration with Google Cloud to leverage the supercomputer power for speeding up Schrödinger’s molecular modeling platform.

 

• Boehringer Ingelheim — BERG: Boehringer Ingelheim partners with BERG to investigate inflammatory diseases, particularly inflammatory bowel disease and Crohn’s disease, find the causes, develop new biomarkers, targets, and new drugs.

 

• Global Open Science project COVID Moonshot was launched by the international consortium of industrial and academic partners, including AI-driven startup PostEra.

 

• Insitro — Andreessen Horowitz, Canada Pension Plan Investment Board: insitro, a machine learning-driven drug discovery company, has raised $143 million in Series B financing. The investment will be used to further develop the company's technology and automation.

 

Partnerships like these provide a huge effect on Pharma industry and are needed in case if a company intends to become a leader in the ongoing competition.