Algen and AstraZeneca Forge AI-Driven Drug Discovery Partnership

Algen Biotechnologies has entered into a multi-target research collaboration with AstraZeneca to accelerate the identification of novel therapeutic targets in immunology. The partnership will leverage Algen’s proprietary AlgenBrain platform, which integrates CRISPR-based gene modulation with artificial intelligence to model disease progression and uncover actionable biological insights.

Under the agreement, Algen will apply its platform to drive preclinical drug discovery, while AstraZeneca will hold exclusive rights to develop and commercialize therapies against a defined set of targets identified through the collaboration. Financial terms include an upfront payment to Algen and milestone-based payments tied to development, regulatory, and commercial achievements, with the total deal value potentially reaching $555 million.

“We’re excited to collaborate with AstraZeneca to bring the power of our AI-driven functional genomics platform to decode complex chronic inflammatory conditions for drug discovery,” said Chun-Hao Huang, Ph.D., CEO and Co-Founder of Algen Biotechnologies. “Together with AstraZeneca’s deep expertise in translational science and clinical development, we aim to uncover new biological insights to accelerate the development of novel therapies alone or in combination to transform patient outcomes.”

“This collaboration with AstraZeneca is part of a growing shift toward data-driven, biology-first approaches in drug discovery,” said Christine Du, Chief Business Officer and Co-Founder of Algen Biotechnologies. “AlgenBrain is designed to uncover the most actionable targets by integrating experimental biology with AI in a continuous learning loop.”

The collaboration reflects a broader industry trend toward integrating computational biology and machine learning into early-stage drug discovery, particularly in complex disease areas such as immunology.