USA – PathAI, an AI-enabled pathology company, has entered into a multiyear drug discovery partnership with pharmaceutical giant GlaxoSmithKline.

The agreement will prioritize clinical trials and drug development in oncology and for nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), an aggressive type of fatty liver disease that can result in severe scarring and liver failure.

GlaxoSmithKline is continuing to carve its own path in the race to develop the first FDA-approved NASH treatment after making its first foray into nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) drug development with a US$1 billion RNAi therapy partnership last year.

PathAI CEO and cofounder Andrew Beck said in a statement: “Our partnership will combine GSK and PathAI’s AI and platform engineering teams to scale algorithm development and enable the discovery of new insights that can be rapidly integrated into clinical trials.“

“With our combined efforts, we aim to harness the power of machine learning to predict which patients will benefit from therapies in key high need areas.”

PathAI’s digital tools analyze tissue samples using AI and deep learning technology to look for condition-specific biomarkers that can predict how a disease will progress and how an individual patient will react to various treatments.

Several of those tools will be used in the startup’s work with GSK, including AIM-NASH, a model that is already being used by many of GSK’s fellow Big Pharmas and was developed in collaboration with Gilead Sciences.

PathAI has also been acquiring partners to use its technology. In October, the startup announced a strategic partnership with pharma and diagnostics company Roche to develop and distribute its AI pathology technology via Roche’s uPath enterprise software, a lab workflow platform.

PathAI recently partnered with the Cleveland Clinic to use its algorithms in clinical care and research.

In the meantime, the pathology startup has had a busy year. It closed a US$165 million Series C financing round in May 2021, bringing its total raise to more than US$255 million. It also acquired Poplar Healthcare Management to expand its lab testing services.

This is not GSK’s first partnership with a digital health or health tech startup. The company recently extended its collaboration with 23andMe for drug discovery until July 2023.

GSK invested US$300 million in the consumer genetics company in 2018, kicking off the collaboration.

GSK also expanded its collaboration with Viome Life Sciences last year to investigate the link between the gut microbiome and some chronic diseases, such as autoimmune disorders.

Their collaboration began in 2019 with an emphasis on the role of gut health in chronic disease prevention.

GSK is promoting the latest agreement as yet another example of how artificial intelligence can be used to improve the drug discovery process.

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