Schrödinger Announces Strategic Collaborations with AstraZeneca and Takeda to Accelerate Drug Discovery Using Advanced Computational Platform

Schrödinger, a company focused on leveraging its computational platform to accelerate drug discovery and materials design, announced yesterday that it had entered into a collaboration agreement with AstraZeneca regarding its computational platform. Additionally, today the company announced an expanded multi-year, multi-target collaboration with Takeda, having achieved the first preclinical milestone in its earlier collaboration with Takeda.

The Schrödinger computational platform integrates physics-based highly predictive methods with next-generation machine learning technologies to assist pharmaceutical companies in accelerating drug design and innovation. While traditional drug development can synthesize only about 1,000 candidate compounds per year, the Schrödinger platform can evaluate billions of compounds within a week, comprehensively assessing and optimizing them during iterative cycles prior to synthesis and testing. The most promising compounds selected from each round undergo further optimization through continuous iterative computational analysis. Undoubtedly, this platform delivers higher-quality compounds at faster speeds and lower costs. The platform employs diverse optimization strategies, including de novo design leveraging retrosynthetic analysis, virtual screening, and simulation of ligand–protein interaction modes.

▲Drug Discovery Workflow on the Schrödinger Computing Platform (Image source: Schrödinger official website)

Commenting on the collaboration between AstraZeneca and Schrödinger, Dr. Garry Pairaudeau, Global Head of Chemistry in AstraZeneca’s R&D department, stated: “AstraZeneca’s strategic objective is to leverage innovative digital technologies to transform drug design paradigms. Through our partnership with Schrödinger, we aim to achieve this goal by employing predictive physics-based modeling and machine learning to deliver higher-quality compounds more efficiently.”

In a press release announcing the expanded collaboration with Takeda, Dr. Karen Akinsanya, Chief Biomedical Scientist at Schrödinger, stated, “Our previous successful collaborations have demonstrated that when drug developers gain access to the full capabilities of the Schrödinger computational platform, they can accelerate the progression of candidate drug molecules into critical assays and disease models. Schrödinger is proud of its ability to provide Takeda with advanced drug candidates that have the potential to address unmet medical needs.”

References:

[1]. Schrödinger Announces Expansion of Multi-Target Research Collaboration with Takeda and Achievement of First Significant Preclinical Milestone in Lead Program. Retrieved Sep. 5, 2019, from https://www.schrodinger.com/news/schrodinger-announces-expansion-multi-target-research-collaboration-takeda-and-achievement

[2]. Schrödinger Announces Collaboration with AstraZeneca to Deploy Advanced Computing Technology for Drug Discovery. Retrieved Sep. 5, 2019, from https://www.schrodinger.com/news/schrodinger-announces-collaboration-astrazeneca-deploy-advanced-computing-technology-drug

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