GSK Invests $50 Mn in Noetik’s AI-Powered Platform to Accelerate Cancer Drug Discovery

The newly announced agreement grants GSK a non‑exclusive license to leverage Noetik’s foundation AI models focused on non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer (CRC).

GSK has announced a $50 million upfront investment plus near‑term milestones to secure access to San Francisco-based Noetik’s cancer artificial intelligence platform aimed at leveraging generative AI to accelerate oncology research and clinical drug discovery.

The newly announced five‑year strategic collaboration and licensing agreement grants GSK a non‑exclusive license to leverage Noetik’s foundation AI models focused on non‑small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) and colorectal cancer (CRC), two of the most challenging tumor types in oncology.

The collaboration further combines GSK’s leadership in AI and tumor immunology with Noetik’s industry-first virtual cell simulation technology to accelerate the development of novel medicines.

Additionally, the companies will collaborate to generate bespoke human spatial datasets, applying human-first biological simulation to areas of strategic interest.

Furthermore, the agreement also includes an ongoing subscription‑based access framework, with annual licensing fees enabling GSK to leverage and refine the AI models throughout the collaboration.

Highlighting the significance of this new initiative, Kim Branson, Ph.D., Global Head of AI and Machine Learning at GSK, said, “Foundation models are only as good as the underlying training data they are built upon. Noetik’s approach to generating high-quality spatial data at scale to train foundation models is novel.”

He further added, “Integration of these models in GSK’s drug discovery and development process has the potential to deepen our understanding of biology and support our development of novel medicines.”

Noetik’s technology, built on self‑supervised machine learning and vast spatial biology datasets, enables simulation of gene expression, cellular states, and tumor‑immune interactions.

These “virtual cell” foundation models are expected to allow researchers to probe complex biological hypotheses in silico, providing insights that can sharpen target selection, enhance patient stratification, and ultimately speed the development of transformative medicines.

Commenting on the new partnership, Ron Alfa, M.D., Ph.D., CEO & Co-Founder of Noetik, said, “This agreement validates a new paradigm in biotech: the licensing of human foundation models. GSK is now equipped with one of the most extensive oncology multimodal spatial training sets in existence, allowing them to query tumor biology with a level of resolution that was previously impossible. We are proud to partner with their team to find better medicines, faster.”

Stay tuned for more such updates on Digital Health News