Business Wire

CA-ATOMWISE

18.12.2020 12:02:07 CET | Business Wire | Press release

Share
Atomwise and FutuRx Launch A2i Therapeutics - A New Immuno-Oncology Company Funded By Leading Biopharma VCs and the Israeli Innovation Authority

Atomwise , the leader in using artificial intelligence (AI) for small-molecule drug discovery, announced today a partnership with FutuRx , a recognized Israeli-based biotechnology incubator focused on innovative, early-stage therapeutic technologies. The collaboration will serve as the first introduction of Atomwise’s AtomNet® platform for AI-based drug discovery to a growing biotech innovation hub in Israel and is Atomwise’s second partnership with a global incubator hub.

This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20201218005044/en/

As part of the strategic partnership, Atomwise will work closely with the FutuRx management team, investors and incubated portfolio companies to apply its AI technology to early-stage drug discovery projects. Atomwise and FutuRx have announced their first joint venture, A2i Therapeutics, with seed funding to leverage Atomwise’s AI platform to target a key protein involved in controlling the innate immune response and potentially a key immuno-oncology target. Atomwise’s AI platform, AtomNet®, can screen more than 16 billion compounds for potential hits in less than two days and has been used by researchers around the world to find hits on targets across numerous disease applications.

“FutuRx is excited to launch a new bio convergence company jointly with a world leader in AI-based drug discovery,” said Kinneret Savitzky, PhD, Chief Executive Officer of FutuRx. “Atomwise brings a legacy of collaboration and innovation in small-molecule drug discovery to our network of leading experts from multinational pharmaceutical companies and venture capital, “We are happy that our partnership with Atomwise will introduce its innovative AI platform for drug discovery to startups and emerging biotech companies in Israel.”

“The Israeli Innovation Authority leads Israel’s Bio-convergence strategy and is happy to have FutuRx once again join this effort together with its new partner Atomwise,” said Anya Eldan, VP of the Innovation Authority and Head of Startup Division. “Atomwise is at the forefront of AI-driven drug discovery, and this partnership with FutuRx will help pursue difficult disease targets and significantly boost the Israeli AI drug discovery and bio-convergence ecosystem.”

FutuRx now joins Atomwise’s growing network of investor and corporate partnerships, which today represents a collective deal value approaching $7 billion. Since its founding, Atomwise has built a strong portfolio of joint-venture companies and partnerships with emerging biotechnology, leading pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies.

In April 2020, Atomwise expanded its strategic partnership with Hansoh Pharma , a leading biopharmaceutical company in China, after successfully completing their first hit-discovery collaboration to identify hit compounds that are specific towards an intractable drug target. This announcement came on the heels of another expanded partnership earlier this year with Bayer to continue the development of two crop protection programs. As part of the strategic partnership, Atomwise is helping Bayer increase the speed and probability of discovering and developing new crop protection products through AI.

“We are excited to see Atomwise, a Leaps by Bayer portfolio company, collaborating with FutuRx on new frontiers for addressing our shared goal of curing and preventing cancer,” said Dr. Juergen Eckhardt, Head of Leaps by Bayer.

About FutuRx

FutuRx is the leading biotechnology incubator in Israel, established in 2014 by Johnson & Johnson Innovation (JJDC, Inc.), OrbiMed Israel Partners, and Takeda Pharmaceutical Company, through its venture group Takeda Ventures Inc., after winning a tender of the Israeli Innovation Authority. Recently Bayer has joined FutuRx as a strategic investor through its corporate venture LEAPS. The incubator is focused on innovative, early stage therapeutic technologies, and has established 23 companies to date. For more information about FutuRx, please visit https://www.futurx.co.il .

About Atomwise

Atomwise is revolutionizing how drugs are discovered with AI. We invented the use of deep learning for structure-based drug discovery, today developing a pipeline of small-molecule drug candidates advancing into preclinical studies. Our AtomNet® technology has been used to unlock more undruggable targets than any other AI drug discovery platform. We are tackling over 600 unique disease targets across 775 collaborations spanning more than 250 partners around the world. Our portfolio of joint ventures and partnerships with leading pharmaceutical, agrochemical, and emerging biotechnology companies represents a collective deal value approaching $7 billion. Atomwise has raised over $174 million from leading venture capital firms to advance our mission to make better medicines, faster. Learn more at atomwise.com or follow @AtomwiseInc.

Link:

ClickThru

About Business Wire

Business Wire
Business Wire
101 California Street, 20th Floor
CA 94111 San Francisco

http://businesswire.com

Subscribe to releases from Business Wire

Subscribe to all the latest releases from Business Wire by registering your e-mail address below. You can unsubscribe at any time.

Latest releases from Business Wire

Visa Opens the Door to AI-Driven Shopping for Businesses Worldwide8.4.2026 18:00:00 CEST | Press release

Part of the Visa Intelligent Commerce portfolio, Intelligent Commerce Connect will enable more ways for agents to pay and merchants to accept agentic transactions in a single integrationCurrently in pilot with select partners including Aldar, AWS, Diddo, Highnote, Mesh, Payabli, Sumvin, and rolling out to more partners this year Visa Inc. (NYSE: V) today unveiled Intelligent Commerce Connect, a new solution that makes it easier for businesses to connect to and participate in AI-powered commerce. Intelligent Commerce Connect acts as a network, protocol, and token vault-agnostic ‘on ramp’ to agentic commerce for agent builders, merchants, and enablers. As consumers increasingly rely on AI agents to make purchases, businesses – whether they are building agents, selling to them, or processing transactions – need a simple way to get started. Intelligent Commerce Connect, part of the Visa Intelligent Commerce portfolio, meets that need. Through a single integration via the Visa Acceptance Pl

Sumitomo Corporation, SMBC Aviation Capital, Apollo and Brookfield Complete the Acquisition of Air Lease Corporation8.4.2026 15:13:00 CEST | Press release

Sumitomo Corporation, SMBC Aviation Capital, Apollo-managed funds (“Apollo”) and Brookfield today announced that they have completed the previously announced acquisition of Air Lease Corporation (“Air Lease”) and have renamed the business Sumisho Air Lease Corporation (“Sumisho Air Lease”). This transformational transaction improves the financial position of the business with long term support and aviation expertise from co-investors Sumitomo Corporation, SMBC Aviation Capital, Apollo and Brookfield. Sumisho Air Lease’s strong foundation as an established aircraft lessor, supported by SMBC Aviation Capital’s industry‑leading capabilities as servicer, creates a platform with the scale and financial strength needed to meet the fast‑changing and increasingly complex requirements of airline customers. Sumisho Air Lease will also benefit from the deep expertise and long-standing commitment that both Sumitomo Corporation and SMBC Aviation Capital bring to the global aviation leasing sector.

Sitetracker Launches Scout, an Agentic AI Platform Purpose-Built for Critical Infrastructure8.4.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release

Sitetracker, the leading Asset Lifecycle Management platform for critical infrastructure, today announced the launch of Scout, its new Agentic AI platform designed to help infrastructure owners, operators, and contractors gain deep insights and drive automation within their operations. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260408923336/en/ Scout, ready for real work As your AI analyst and agent, Scout is ready to work on day 1. Scout provides clarity when decisions are forming and momentum when action is required. It surfaces risk, synthesizes information, and helps accelerate execution by connecting data and driving action. Scout creates operational intelligence and turns it into action all in a secure environment that protects data sovereignty. “Our customers are looking to create compounding competitive advantages,” said Giuseppe Incitti, Chief Executive Officer of Sitetracker. “Scout delivers by providing easy t

Westinghouse Hosts Annual VVER Fuel Forum with Customers8.4.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release

Westinghouse currently has fuel supply contracts with all the European VVER operators Westinghouse and MVM Paks Nuclear Power Plant (NPP) recently co-hosted the VVER Fuel Forum in Budapest to share insights and plans for the continued deployment of VVER-1000 and VVER-440 fuel in operating reactors. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20260408646373/en/ Participants to the VVER Fuel Forum Péter János Horváth, CEO of MVM Paks, welcomed all the participants, highlighting that Hungary is ending two decades of single supplier fuel dependency thanks to the agreement recently signed with Westinghouse to supply the VVER-440 NOVA E-6 fuel design. Six customers presented the progress made and positive outcomes achieved in the past years with the introduction of Westinghouse fuel into mixed cores with resident fuel in their reactors: Energoatom has extensive experience with Westinghouse VVER-440 and VVER-1000 fuel, currently u

Virica Biotech and FUJIFILM Biosciences Collaborate Under the Canada–Japan Co‑Innovation Program to Advance AAV Production Enhancers8.4.2026 15:00:00 CEST | Press release

Efficient production of Adeno-Associated Virus (AAV) vectors at scale for in vivo gene therapies remains a key bottleneck for broad patient access and sustainable manufacturing costs.Virica and FUJIFILM Biosciences will co-develop an off-the-shelf enhancer–media solution to boost AAV yields and process robustness in FUJIFILM Biosciences BalanCD® HEK293 system. Virica Biotech (“Virica”), a cell enhancer company specializing in Viral Sensitizers (VSE™) for viral vector manufacturing, today announced it is receiving advisory services and funding from the National Research Council of Canada Industrial Research Assistance Program (NRC IRAP), under the Canada–Japan Corporate Co-Innovation Program for a collaboration with FUJIFILM Biosciences. The collaboration will focus on optimizing a VSE™ formulation for FUJIFILM Biosciences BalanCD HEK293 media to support academic and commercial AAV producers globally. AAV vectors are a cornerstone of in vivo gene delivery for gene therapies, but they re

In our pressroom you can read all our latest releases, find our press contacts, images, documents and other relevant information about us.

Visit our pressroom
World GlobeA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.HiddenA line styled icon from Orion Icon Library.Eye