Just a few months after being formed, China’s Funnel Biosciences has signed a $2 billion-plus partnership with Third Rock Ventures (TRV), focused on using its AI platform to discover novel biologic drugs.
Under the terms of the deal, Beijing-based Funnel Bio will apply its proprietary epitope-guided AI antibody discovery platform to the discovery and development of drug candidates, including antibody-based drugs, against multiple targets nominated by the venture capital company.
Known as Fangnuo Biotech within China, Funnel Bio has been built around an epitope-guided AI antibody discovery platform that combines generative algorithms with physics-based energy functions to design biologics from scratch.
The Chinese company said that conventional antibody discovery commonly relies on animal immunisation and phage display, followed by rounds of screening and optimisation. That can be challenging for structurally complex drug targets, such as multi-pass membrane proteins.
Its platform generates antibodies with improved binding interfaces by connecting molecular design with the intended mechanism of action, coming up with candidates that can offer “picomolar affinities, favourable developability, and low immunogenicity.”
The company was co-founded in February of this year by biotech executive and cancer researcher Dr Liu Jintan, who previously worked at MSD in the US, and computational biophysicist and AI protein design researcher Dr Mingchen Chen.
“By combining AI design with experimental validation, we aim to work with partners to explore biologics with the potential for differentiation in molecular design and mechanism of action,” said the two founders in a statement.
“TRV’s experience in scientific translation, drug development and company creation complements Funnel’s capabilities.”
The collaboration calls for Funnel Bio to receive an undisclosed platform access fee and is eligible for total potential fees of up to $2.16 billion.
The deal is an interesting one for TRV, which has generally acted as an incubator for promising biotech startups, rather than becoming directly involved in the drug discovery process.
It is the second publicly disclosed deal of its type for the VC, coming after it partnered with Shanghai-based computational physics and AI company Perpetual Medicine on a programme to develop novel peptide-based therapeutics. In June, it was revealed that the first development candidate from the alliance had been delivered, less than 18 months after it was signed.
Image by Chris K.Y. Fung from Pixabay
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