Biogen Inc., and TheraPanacea today announced that they have entered into a collaboration focused on multiple therapeutic areas in neuroscience, to further build on the companies’ existing relationship. The aim is to leverage machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI) analysis to develop digital health solutions that may improve patient care, accelerate drug development, and further the understanding of the underlying pathologies of neurological diseases.

“We believe that neuroscience is at an inflection point for innovation and breakthrough. Advancements in technology may increase our ability to understand disease, target treatments, and manage risk,” said Martin Dubuc, Head of Biogen Digital Health. “Based on the outcome of our prior work with TheraPanacea and their success with AI in oncology, we are excited to further this collaboration. We believe digital health solutions will enable us to pioneer a new era of personalized medicine built upon a foundation of accessibility and precision.”

By harnessing ML and AI to draw meaning from medical imaging and other clinically relevant data sources, there is potential to improve disease understanding and enable more personalized clinical trial design. This could result in shortening drug development cycles, lowering associated costs, and increasing probability of success. At the same time, these digital health solutions have the potential to support more informed clinical decisions and could lead to improved health outcomes for patients.

“We are excited to collaborate with Biogen and combine our ML and AI solutions with their world-class clinical expertise and unique datasets in neuroscience,” said Professor Nikos Paragios, Chief Executive Officer of TheraPanacea and distinguished professor of mathematics at CentraleSupélec, University of Paris-Saclay. “Through this collaboration, we aim to scale our artificial intelligence multi-omics biomarker discovery platform and deploy clinical solutions that have the potential to deliver better treatment decisions for patients living with neurological diseases.”

Under the terms of the agreement, Biogen will invest up to $15 million in exchange for TheraPanacea convertible debt. The agreement also provides for up to approximately $41 million (based on current exchange rates) in milestone payments contingent upon the achievement of certain research and development milestones. In addition, Biogen gains exclusive rights to TheraPanacea’s technology in neuroscience. To meet the goals of this collaboration, TheraPanacea will invest in expanding its existing operations and workforce in Europe.