A spin-out company from the University of Dundee which uses artificial intelligence to develop new drugs has joined the race to tackle Covid-19.
Exscientia is to progress compounds that could rapidly become viable drugs for treating the virus under a transatlantic partnership.
The company, which has a base in Dundee but is now headquartered in Oxford, is the third business backed by Scottish investor Frontier IP to be heavily involved in the fight against Covid-19.
Exscientia is working on a joint initiative with UK research facility Diamond Light Source and Calibr, a division of US-based Scripps Research.
Through the alliance, Exscientia has gained access to Calibr's collection of 15,000 clinically ready molecules, those which have already been shown to be safe for use in humans or have passed pre-clinical safety studies.
Exscientia will start by rapidly screening the entire collection to identify existing compounds that could be repurposed to tackle Covid-19.
It has been working with Diamond Light Source, the UK Government-funded national synchrotron facility, and the University of Oxford since January 2020 on the project. Frontier IP, which specialises in commercialising intellectual property developed by universities, holds a 3.3% equity stake in the Exscientia.
Frontier IP chief executive Neil Crabb said: "Exscientia's aim is to use its AI to discover new, effective drugs quickly and efficiently, and we are optimistic the company can make a significant contribution to the global fight against Covid-19.”
Other portfolio companies are directly involved in support efforts to combat are The Vaccine Group, which is developing animal vaccines to combat the disease and related coronaviruses to prevent their future spread from animals into humans, and Elute Intelligence Holdings, which is using its technology to support scientists needing to sift complex datasets to identify the most relevant research for their work.
