A formal collaboration to advance a common internal pipeline of drug development projects
Barcelona, 16 March 2022 – Today we announce the start of the formal collaboration between Acellera and Chemotargets. Both companies have a long history of developing and using AI and physics-based software methods to enhance drug discovery and development. We will collaborate to offer drug discovery and development services and to advance a common internal pipeline of drug development projects. Chemotargets and Acellera have independently developed very complementary knowledge, methods and products and together they aim to provide a complete set of computationally enhanced drug discovery and development services.
Crucial in this collaboration is our ability to address not only established and novel targets with both small molecules and RNA-based therapies, but also to infuse the entire discovery and design process with safety-related AI-based molecular design while maintaining molecular properties consistent with the therapeutic needs of each patient.
Under this collaboration we bring together over 30 computational and medicinal chemists, software engineers, physicists and mathematicians with over a decade of experience gained from hundreds of customers including a large proportion of large and medium pharmaceutical companies. Also the significant computer resources of the two companies, including a 40 GPU cluster.
In addition to the technical integration of the platforms from each company, a dedicated, experienced team of personnel have been assigned to formulate and execute each drug discovery and development project according to its therapeutic goals.
The collaboration will be led by Dr. Scott Boyer, Dr. Jordi Mestres and Dr. Gianni de Fabritiis, all of whom are established scientists with a combined total of over 500 publications in the field.
“This collaboration between Acellera and Chemotargets allows the two companies to move to a new level in terms of drug discovery capabilities, allowing us to pioneer the technology revolution so much required in drug design. The tools and methods that we can provide and the larger work capacity, put us among the top technology-based drug discovery companies with a complete pipeline of proven and state-of-the-art technology in computer simulations and machine learning. Together we will be able to deliver more value to our clients and to society by the development of new drugs”, said CEO,CSO, founder, Dr. Gianni De Fabritiis.
“This is a strategic partnership between two technology and innovation based companies. Together, we will be able to take on pharmaceutical research projects with a unique combined offering of widely-recognised state-of-the-art platforms in machine learning, molecular dynamics and predictive pharmacology and safety. Exciting times are coming”, said Dr. Jordi Mestres, founder and CSO of Chemotargets.
“When one looks at the history and development of Acellera and Chemotargets, the complementarity of the two companies is strikingly obvious. This collaboration opens up the doors to the development of safe, effective therapies for anyone – from new approaches to an existing target to novel, previously intractable targets using any one of many modalities. Our strength lies not only in our depth of technical abilities, but in our approach to integration of a wide array of methods into a broad, ‘complete’ design process.” Dr. Scott Boyer, CEO, Chemotargets.
About Acellera
Acellera is devoted to bringing state-of-the-art technologies to drug discovery. Founded in 2006, we were one of the first companies worldwide to leverage the use of novel accelerator processor technology (GPU) applied to molecular dynamics. We developed the first online platform for drug design based on deep learning and are now leading the introduction of machine learning techniques into the drug discovery pipeline.
About Chemotargets
Chemotargets was founded in 2006 as a spin-off of the systems pharmacology research group of Dr. Jordi Mestres under the auspices of the IMIM Hospital del Mar Medical Research Institute. The company, with headquarters located in the Barcelona Science Park (PCB), offers state-of-the-art artificial intelligence-driven methodologies with predictive capabilities in the fields of virtual screening, chemical design, pharmacology and drug safety. Its goal is to help the pharmaceutical industry accelerate drug discovery and development programs, while improving cost-effectiveness and safety.
Media Contacts
Acellera: Gianni de Fabritiis, CEO info@acellera.com
Chemotargets: Scott Boyer, CEO scott.boyer@chemotargets.com
