GSK & Relation Therapeutics Ink $110 Mn AI Drug Discovery Deal

The AI foundation model is designed to analyse cellular perturbation responses across multiple disease contexts using large-scale multi-omic datasets.

Global pharma company GSK has entered into a research collaboration with British biotech firm Relation Therapeutics, backed by Nvidia, in a deal valued at up to $110 million.

The partnership aims to generate large-scale human cellular datasets and develop artificial intelligence (AI) models to identify potential therapeutic targets for future drug development.

The ⁠collaboration builds on an earlier partnership between the companies in 2024 focused on drug targets for fibrotic diseases and osteoarthritis.

Under ​the agreement, Relation will generate ​large-scale datasets showing how human cells respond to genetic and drug interventions. These datasets will be used to train AI foundation models, including the company's newly launched MORGAN (Multi-Omic Regulatory Genomics using Artificial Neural Networks) platform. ​

The AI foundation model is designed to analyse cellular perturbation responses across multiple disease contexts using large-scale multi-omic datasets.

Commenting on the partnership, David Roblin, CEO, Relation Therapeutics, said, "Deepening our understanding of the underlying biology of disease starts with richer data, to be used in models that can give us greater confidence in the discovery of therapeutic targets that can ultimately yield medicines.”

He added, “Through this collaboration with GSK, we will generate novel datasets from physiologically relevant human disease systems that can help reveal important biological mechanisms and support future discovery efforts.”

Speaking about the MORGAN platform, Roblin said, “MORGAN is an entirely new approach to understanding human biology. What differentiates MORGAN is that we've built both the model and the scientific infrastructure needed to train it.”

“We're generating petascale, high-resolution multi-omic perturbation datasets through automated laboratories designed specifically for high-throughput cellular experiments with superhuman consistency. That enables us to produce data at a quality, scale and reproducibility that conventional laboratory approaches simply can't achieve.”

He further noted that it has been designed as a general-purpose AI model capable of analysing multiple cell types and disease areas rather than focusing on a single therapeutic indication.

He noted that the platform combines automated laboratory-generated multi-omic datasets with AI models to study how human cells respond to genetic and pharmacological interventions.

According to the biotech company, the collaboration is intended to support both the AI platform and internal research programmes.

The expanded data generation capabilities are expected to enhance the MORGAN platform and support its research in fibrotic diseases, osteoarthritis and osteoporosis by improving the understanding of disease biology and the identification and prioritisation of potential therapeutic targets.

Further, the insights generated through those disease programs help refine MORGAN.

“It's a virtuous cycle where the platform strengthens the pipeline, and the pipeline helps make the platform even more predictive," Roblin added.

The collaboration aligns with GSK’s broader strategy to expand the use of AI to improve ⁠the ​efficiency and success ​rate of drug discovery.

Earlier this year, the company announced an agreement with San Francisco-based Noetik, including a $50 million upfront payment and potential near-term milestone payments, to access the company's AI platform for oncology research and clinical drug discovery.

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