Genetic Leap, an AI and RNA genetic medicine company, is partnering with pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly to develop genetic medicine therapeutics.
According to the companies, the collaboration expands a pilot program leveraging Genetic Leap’s RNA-targeting AI platform designed to produce oligonucleotide medicines against targets selected by Lilly in important therapeutic areas.
Lilly will pay Genetic Leap up to $409 million in upfront commercial, development, regulatory and clinical payments as well as tiered royalties.
According to the company, RNA plays a critical role in regulating key biological processes and holds great potential in addressing serious diseases that are not effectively targeted by existing medicines.
“We are excited to collaborate with Lilly and share their strong commitment to developing RNA medicines,” Dr. Bertrand Advances, CEO and founder of Genetic Leap, said in a statement.
“Our primary goal in building the Genetic Leap AI platform is to accelerate the development of medicines that save patients’ lives, and this collaboration with Lilly’s talented and knowledgeable research and development team brings us significantly closer to that goal.”
Larger trends
In 2022, Genetic Leap partnered with Astellas Pharma to develop novel RNA-targeted small molecule therapeutic candidates against undisclosed tumor targets. Genetic Leap deployed its platform to discover and validate RNA-targeted small molecules against undisclosed tumor targets selected by Astellas Pharma.
Another company in AI/RNA genetic medicine is Canadian startup Deep Genomics, which raised $180 million in Series C funding for its artificial intelligence technology designed to help program and prioritize innovative RNA therapeutics for genetic diseases.
The company has also developed a proprietary platform, “AI Workbench,” to decipher the complexities of RNA biology and discover new targets, mechanisms and molecules that are inaccessible via traditional methods.
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