Almirall and Absci Sign Pact to Develop Novel Treatments

Almirall S.A. launched a drug discovery collaboration with the goal of developing and commercializing AI-designed therapies for chronic and severe dermatological conditions. The collaboration combines Absci's Integrated Drug Creation platform with Almirall's dermatological expertise with the objective of providing patients with life-changing treatments, marking another step forward in AI drug creationThe partnership represents Almirall’s first de novo AI drug collaboration, and it comes only months after Absci announced it could design and validate de novo therapeutic antibodies using its ‘zero-shot’ generative AI. Under the terms of the partnership, Absci will apply its de novo generative AI technology to create and commercialize therapeutic candidates for two dermatological targets, as per pharmabiz.“Almirall chose Absci because their de novo platform brings truly novel innovation in solving the industry’s most challenging targets facing high unmet medical need,” said Almirall executive VP of R&D and CSO Dr. Karl Ziegelbauer. “Our partnership underlines Almirall’s commitment to target innovative approaches to help patients suffering from severe skin diseases to achieve their dream of leading a healthy life.”“Our partnership with Almirall marks an important leap forward for dermatologic drug development and is poised to transform the lives of millions managing skin conditions,” said Absci founder and CEO Sean McClain. “We believe the collaboration will generate tremendous scientific and technical insights for using AI drug creation to treat chronic inflammatory diseases more broadly. Working with a global leader and visionary in skin disease on this ambitious project will accelerate our journey in creating better biologics for a broad range of diseases affecting millions daily.”