Cerevel Therapeutics, a company dedicated to unraveling the mysteries of the brain to treat neuroscience diseases, and Cyclica, whose AI-augmented, integrated platform enables multi-objective, polypharmacology-informed design of drug molecules, today announced a research collaboration aimed at accelerating the discovery of novel medicines for neuroscience diseases. Through this collaboration, Cerevel will use Cyclica’s Ligand Express and Ligand Design proprietary AI platforms to screen, identify, design and evaluate compounds directed at pre-specified targets for neuroscience diseases.
“Cerevel aims to be the premier neuroscience company by applying state-of-the-art technology and a differentiated approach to developing novel medicines,” said John Renger, Ph.D., chief scientific officer at Cerevel Therapeutics. “We are using Cyclica’s world-class AI platform for high throughput screening in compound identification and optimization—which we believe can more efficiently identify new therapeutic molecules with symptomatic or disease-modifying potential. Utilizing cutting-edge tools like Cyclica’s is one of the many ways we are creating a leading neuroscience drug discovery and development platform for the future.”
“Leveraging Cyclica’s multi-targeted, proteome-wide approach, combined with Cerevel’s novel and relentless pursuit of advancing neuroscience, has the potential to bring medicines to patients suffering from neurological diseases faster,” said Vern De Biasi, vice president and global head of strategic partnerships at Cyclica.
In addition to its pipeline of five clinical assets and seven pre-clinical programs, Cerevel is pursuing undisclosed targets for numerous neurological indications, including those with disease-modifying potential. Cerevel is supporting these efforts through the use of AI, as well as human genetic analyses and DNA-encoded chemical libraries, to better understand the therapeutic potential of numerous chemical lead series.
“AI-based in silico drug design has made dramatic progress over the past five years and can significantly enhance our approach to designing potent and selective small molecules based upon predicted three-dimensional structure of protein targets,” said David Stone, head of genetics and biomarkers at Cerevel Therapeutics. “We will use Cyclica’s AI platforms to rapidly generate unique chemical matter for synthesis and testing, with the goal of faster development of new medicines for patients living with neuroscience diseases.”
“Cyclica’s drug discovery platform accelerates pre-clinical drug development by considering the polypharmacological profiles and medicinal properties of drug candidates simultaneously during the design process,” said Vijay Shahani, director of applied science at Cyclica. “We are excited by the opportunity to combine our technological approach with Cerevel’s strong expertise in neuroscience to drive the development of meaningful therapeutics.”
Terms of the collaboration with Cyclica are not disclosed.