Crown Bioscience, JSR Life Sciences and Cambridge Quantum Computing (CQC) have entered a partnership agreement to explore the application of quantum technology to drive the identification of multi-gene biomarker discovery for oncology drug discovery.
 
The partnership will combine CrownBio’s domain expertise and vast data sets generated from 15 years of preclinical and translational research and CQC’s advanced capabilities in quantum algorithms, quantum machine learning, and quantum computing.
 
Utilizing quantum machine algorithms and CQC’s software development framework for execution on NISQ (Noisy Intermediate-Scale Quantum) computers, the initial approach will focus on deriving insight from the analysis of genetic data to identify cancer treatment biomarkers and drive the next generation of bioinformatics.
 
The objective is to identify a strategy to implement an early quantum computing application that will ultimately address and explore solutions to broad challenges in life sciences.
 
“The agreement continues CrownBio’s commitment to innovation and the application of technology to accelerate and de-risk drug development, leading to stronger drug candidates and a more rapid transition from preclinical phases to the clinic,” said Armin Spura, chief executive officer, CrownBio.
 
llyas Khan, chief executive officer, CQC, said, “CQC was founded to develop technologies that could help address some of the most pressing societal challenges, particularly in areas such as human biology, so we are excited to enter into our latest partnership with CrownBio to determine how cutting-edge quantum machine learning methods can be applied to critical use cases.”