EXSCIENTIA
9.4.2021 07:32:05 CEST | Business Wire | Press release
Exscientia, a leading artificial intelligence (AI)-driven pharmatech company, today announced the first AI-designed molecule for immuno-oncology to enter human clinical trials. The A2a receptor antagonist, which is in development for adult patients with advanced solid tumours, was co-invented and developed through a Joint Venture between Exscientia and Evotec, including application of Exscientia’s next generation 3-D evolutionary AI-design platform as part of Centaur Chemist® . The drug candidate has potential for best-in-class characteristics, with high selectivity for the target receptor, bringing together potential benefits of reduced systemic sides effects as well as minimal brain exposure to avoid undesired psychological side effects. Preclinical data related to this project will be presented at the American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting to be held 9-14 April, 2021.
With this announcement, the company’s AI technologies and drug-hunting expertise are now responsible for the first two AI-designed drugs to enter Phase I testing, following on from Exscientia’s previous announcement in 2020.1
Andrew Hopkins, CEO of Exscientia said, “Immuno-oncology medicines are bringing benefit to a range of cancer patients. Our selective A2a receptor antagonist addresses a next-generation immuno-oncology strategy to empower the human immune system by reversing the effects of high adenosine concentrations. We set ambitious therapeutic objectives for this project, especially high selectivity for the A2a receptor and central nervous system (CNS) sparing properties, in order to reduce the likelihood of systemic side effects. Even with these challenging objectives, we were able to discover our candidate molecule within 8 months of project initiation.”
Tumour cells produce high levels of adenosine, a molecule that helps them escape immune system detection by binding to the A2a receptor on cancer fighting T-cells, reducing T-cell ability to eliminate disease.2 Exscientia’s AI-designed A2a receptor antagonist is being investigated for its ability to prevent adenosine from binding to the T-cell receptor and potentially promote anti-tumour T-cell activity.
ENDS
About Exscientia
Exscientia is an artificial intelligence (AI)-driven pharmatech committed to discovering and designing the best possible medicines in the fastest and most effective manner. Exscientia is the first company to progress AI-designed small molecules into the clinical setting and repeatedly demonstrate the ability of AI to transform the how drugs are created.
Drug design is precision engineering at the molecular scale. Exscientia has built dedicated AI systems that efficiently learn from the widest range of data and consistently reapply enhanced knowledge through iterations of design. Because Exscientia’s AI platform learns more effectively and rapidly than human-led efforts alone, candidate molecules satisfying complex therapeutic requirements are created with revolutionary efficiency. Exscientia believes that designing better drugs, faster, will allow the best ideas of science to rapidly become the best medicines for patients.
For more information visit us on www.exscientia.ai or follow us on Twitter @exscientiaAI .
1 Exscientia. Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma and Exscientia Joint Development New Drug Candidate Created Using Artificial Intelligence (AI) Begins Clinical Trial. Available at: https://www.exscientia.ai/news-insights/sumitomo-dainippon-pharma-and-exscientia-joint-development Last accessed: April 2021.
2 Vigano, S., Alatzoglou, D., Irving, M., Ménétrier-Caux, C., Caux, C., Romero, P. and Coukos, G., 2019. Targeting adenosine in cancer immunotherapy to enhance T-cell function. Frontiers in immunology , 10 , p.925.
View source version on businesswire.com: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20210408005918/en/
Link:
About Business Wire
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
Galderma Delivers Net Sales of 4.765 B USD in the First Nine Months, Up 25.1% at Constant Currency Year-on-Year, and Raises Full-Year Net Sales Guidance22.10.2026 07:00:00 CEST | Press release
Ad hoc announcement pursuant to Art. 53 LR Galderma Group AG (SIX:GALD), the pure-play dermatology category leader, today announced its sales performance for the first nine months of 2026. Record net sales of 4.765 billion USD for thefirst nine months of 2026, representing 25.1% year-on-year growth at constant currency1, predominantly driven by volume and complemented by favorable mix. Broad-based double-digit growth across geographies and product categories, reflecting strong execution of Galderma’s proven integrated dermatology strategy, with stand-out performance in Therapeutic Dermatology, across both Nemluvio and the mature portfolio, as well as in Dermatological Skincare and Neuromodulators. Continued market outperformance across all three product categories, with net sales growth year-on-year at constant currency of 13.2% in Injectable Aesthetics, 16.2% in Dermatological Skincare, and 64.4% in Therapeutic Dermatology (with Nemluvio net sales of 735 million USD). Strengthening Ga
Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah Inaugurates the First Ras Al Khaimah’s Business Consultancy in China, Strengthening Ties With Guangdong21.10.2026 23:46:00 CEST | Press release
HH Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, UAE Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, inaugurated the Emirate’s first business consultancy in China, marking a new chapter of cooperation and partnership. This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20261021542126/en/ His Highness Sheikh Saud bin Saqr Al Qasimi, UAE Supreme Council Member and Ruler of Ras Al Khaimah, inaugurated the Emirate’s first business consultancy in China, located in Guangzhou, Guangdong Province, stating that the launch reflects a long-term commitment to strengthening ties with partners in China and to creating new avenues for investment, trade and collaboration. (Photo: AETOSWire) Located in the industrial hub of Guangzhou, the consultancy will serve as a leading platform dedicated to strengthening Ras Al Khaimah’s engagement with Chinese businesses, facilitating expanding cooperation across key sectors. The inauguration builds on a relationship t
Octane AI Launches Phoenix, an AI Quiz Builder That Builds, Checks and Improves Quizzes for Shopify Brands21.10.2026 19:15:00 CEST | Press release
Phoenix builds a full quiz from a prompt or a document, catches broken logic before shoppers do and shows what every answer earns in Shopify revenue. Octane AI, the quiz and zero-party data platform for Shopify brands, launched Phoenix in October, its biggest release to date. Merchants describe the quiz they want or upload what they already have, and Phoenix builds it, checks it, personalizes the results and keeps improving it with experiments. One beta customer turned a single document into a complete product-launch quiz: “I attached it to Phoenix, and it built the whole thing, all the pages. It understood everything, not just the text but the logic behind it.” Across all live Octane AI quizzes, 15% of shoppers who finish a quiz place an order. Yet building one has meant hours of writing rules by hand, custom code for design and clicking through every path to find broken results. Phoenix handles those hard parts, from building a quiz to improving it after launch. “Since day one, we've
Cognite Earns Corporate Supplier of the Year Award from Marathon Petroleum Corporation21.10.2026 19:06:00 CEST | Press release
Cognite today announced it has been named Corporate Supplier of the Year winner in Marathon Petroleum Corporation’s 11th Annual Supplier Recognition Awards. The Supplier Recognition Awards is a program sponsored by Marathon Petroleum Corporation to honor suppliers that positively impacted the company’s business throughout the previous calendar year. “There’s a reason ‘Impact’ is one of Cognite’s most important core values,” said Girish Rishi, CEO of Cognite. “For us, the ultimate measure of our performance is delivering quantifiable value for our customers. From that perspective, the Corporate Supplier of the Year award from Marathon is particularly meaningful. Marathon Petroleum is an innovator, and to receive this recognition is a great honor to the Cognite community.” The Supplier of the Year Award from Marathon is the latest honor Cognite has received in 2026: In May, Cognite ranked 15th on CNBC’s Disruptor50 list, honoring venture-backed companies innovating across industries, exp
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. to Webcast Capital Markets Experience: China Ecosystem Immersion Presentations on November 4, 202621.10.2026 18:48:00 CEST | Press release
The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. (NYSE: EL) today announced that it will webcast presentations from its Capital Markets Experience: China Ecosystem Immersion in Shanghai, China, on Wednesday, November 4, 2026. The event will feature presentations from Stéphane de La Faverie, President and Chief Executive Officer, and Akhil Shrivastava, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer, as well as members of the Company’s Executive Leadership Team and local leaders. The presentations will highlight the Company’s strategy and capabilities in China, Beauty Reimagined in action, and how China serves as a blueprint for deploying the Company’s global capabilities to drive sustainable growth and stronger profitability. Due to limited capacity, in-person attendance is by invitation only. Interested parties can access the live webcast on Wednesday, November 4th, beginning at 1:00 p.m. China Standard Time (12:00 a.m. ET) at Investors – The Estée Lauder Companies Inc. A replay of the webcast wi
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