Clinical-stage biotechnology company PYC Therapeutics said it plans to partner with Google Cloud to build custom-designed machine learning models to develop a new generation of precision medicine models.
In an ASX announcement, PYC said the machine learning models will be integrated with AlphaFold and its successors and hosted on Google Cloud’s artificial intelligence platform.
Developing the precision medicine models will leverage PYC’s proprietary precision medicine data sets. The project aims to predict the optimal sequences and structures of peptides by delivering precision medicine cargoes to specific cells within the human body.
According to PYC, the project retains a strong integration between drug discovery’s computational and biological dimensions through the prediction and validation of the specialised peptides to ensure pharmacological relevance.
As part of the initiative, PYC will collaborate with Google Cloud and other specialised partners with skill sets relevant to the implementation of the project.
These specialised partners will pay a $4.5 million up-front fee to PYC to access PYC’s proprietary data sets and capabilities.
Meanwhile, PYC will provide $10 million in funding to execute the project over a 12-month term.
PYC will benefit by owning the intellectual property rights developed with the project.
Google will retain the right to publish the process used to design, host, and execute the machine learning models.
The terms and conditions of the agreements in the project are industry for such a collaboration, PYC said in its announcement.
The ASX-listed company will fund the project expenditure from existing working capital reserves.
