Photo: pipat wongsawang/Getty Images
BenchSci, a disease biology generative AI platform, announced a three-year agreement with biopharmaceutical company Sanofi to deploy and use its Ascend platform throughout Sanofi's preclinical research organization.
Ascend is a genAI research and development platform meant to unravel disease biology. It acts as an AI assistant and co-pilot to the preclinical scientist.
According to the company, Ascend is powered by a knowledge graph and ontological knowledge base that acts as an evidence map of disease biology.
Ascend leverages multi-modal AI to decode data from scientific literature, including closed access, preprints, patents, and clinical and ontological data. Ascend then leverages the data to help scientists generate an ideal experiment path to test them.
Under a licensing agreement, Sanofi will deploy Ascend across its global sites and establish a long-term, AI-enabled foundation for scientific innovation in key therapeutic areas.
"Sanofi’s commitment to embedding AI across its research programs demonstrates how science can move faster, uncover new biology and transform the way medicines are developed," Liran Belenzon, CEO and cofounder for BenchSci, said in a statement.
THE LARGER TREND
Earlier this month, QuantHealth announced a strategic investment from Sanofi Ventures, the venture capital division of Sanofi, bringing its total raise to $30 million.
The company is using the funds to expand its patient-level simulations and digital twin technologies in the drug development space.
In May, Viz.ai partnered with Regeneron and Sanofi to deploy and study an AI-enabled workflow tool for the treatment of COPD.
Through the partnership, Sanofi and Regeneron will support the company's investigation of its Viz COPD Module, which employs AI and electronic health record data, using natural language processing to detect and manage high-risk COPD patients.
In September, BenchSci announced a strategic partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific to deliver AI-powered research tools and digital capabilities, accelerating experimental design and improving R&D productivity for scientists and researchers.
Using BenchSci's Ascend AI technology, the partnership with Thermo Fisher Scientific involves the development of new AI-enabled tools, including enterprise software solutions for scientific and analytical instruments, advanced web-based research literature search and optimized reagent selection.
In 2023, BenchSci announced a $95 million Series D funding round. The funds were used to expand Ascend.
