Tempus AI has signed a three-way deal with AstraZeneca and Pathos AI to construct a data-based oncology model that could ultimately be used to develop new cancer drugs.
Tempus will use its “vast repository” of anonymized clinical data from cancer patients as the basis for the multimodal foundation model—a term for an AI model that can process and generate outputs from multiple data types. In return, Tempus is set to receive $200 million in data licensing and model development fees.
AstraZeneca, Tempus and AI-focused biotech Pathos will all be able to use the completed model for their own R&D work. The idea is that the model can be used to “gather biological and clinical insights, discover novel drug targets, and develop therapeutics for the broader oncology community,” according to an April 23 release.
“Generative AI and the emergence of large multimodal models is the final catalyst needed to usher in precision medicine in oncology at scale,” Tempus CEO Eric Lefkofsky said in the release.
“Tempus has spent the last decade investing billions of dollars into collecting the necessary data needed for a foundation model of this kind to take shape,” Lefkofsky added. “We look forward to working with AstraZeneca and Pathos to apply AI-enabled solutions to advance therapies in an effort to help patients live longer and healthier lives.”
AstraZeneca already penned a pact with Tempus back in 2021 to use the Chicago-headquartered company’s multimodal data to “advance novel therapeutic programs in oncology on a global scale.” Today’s announcement builds on this existing partnership, Tempus said in a statement.
“Cancer drug discovery and clinical development are being transformed by the ability to analyze vast amounts of rich data using artificial intelligence,” Jorge Reis-Filho, Chief AI and Data Scientist, Oncology R&D, AstraZeneca, said in the release.
“We are excited to collaborate with Tempus and Pathos to advance our data and AI-driven R&D strategy through the development of a multimodal oncology foundation model that we believe will accelerate and increase the probability of clinical success across our diverse pipeline,” Reis-Filho added.
Pathos will also be involved in the new collaboration, and the biotech’s board member Mohamad Makhzoumi said the increasing role of AI in drug development means “the opportunity for companies like Pathos to build foundation models that seemed almost unimaginable a few years ago is now taking shape.”
Like most Big Pharmas, AstraZeneca has plenty of AI-focused drug discovery collaborations in the works, including with Verge Genomics, Absci and Immunai. Earlier this month, Puja Sapra, Ph.D., AstraZeneca’s senior vice president for biologics engineering and oncology target discovery, told Fierce that the company has been busy building machine learning into its discovery portfolio.
“Using deep screening and machine learning and AI models out there … we think will really help us accelerate drug discovery and development, but also help us go after targets that have not been druggable before,” Sapra said in an interview.