Charles River Laboratories International, Inc. and Aitia, a company involved in the application of Causal AI and Digital Twins, entered into a strategic agreement that gives Aitia access to Logica, Charles River’s Artificial Intelligence (AI) powered drug solution platform, for the optimized discovery and early development of multiple therapeutic programs for neurodegenerative disease and oncology.

Aitia will deploy Logica across their portfolio of novel drug targets with the aim of advancing drug candidates for neurological indications, including Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s diseases and cancers, including prostate cancer and multiple myeloma.

“Unraveling the complex genetic and molecular circuitry of neurodegenerative disorders is critical to the discovery of treatments that significantly slow or reverse these devastating diseases,” said Colin Hill, CEO and Co-founder of Aitia. “I do not believe we will get there without the insights from our Digital Twins, which now combined with the advantages of Logica, positions Aitia to rapidly translate our discoveries into novel drug candidates. We are excited to join forces with Charles River, leveraging their decades of industry expertise in research to fuel our R&D efforts.”

Julie Frearson, corporate senior vice president and chief scientific officer, Charles River said, “Combining Aitia’s Digital Twins with Logica’s next-generation solution stands to transform the discovery and development of novel therapeutics for neurological diseases and oncology. The research landscape for Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, and Huntington’s has moved slowly in recent years, and we are excited for the impact that this combined AI solution can deliver to patients.”

In addition, Charles River and Aitia have signed a strategic partnership agreement focused on the development of a patient-derived xenograft (PDX) Digital Twin to predict the best tumor models for in vivo oncology research. The partnership will combine Charles River’s disease-relevant PDX data and expertise with Aitia’s Digital Twin technology to develop PDX Digital Twins in several cancer types. As part of the partnership, Charles River has made an equity investment in Aitia.