13 September 2019 - - US-based Atomwise Inc., a specialist in artificial intelligence for drug discovery, and Atropos Therapeutics, Inc., a senescence platform discovery company, will launch a joint venture company to discover and advance a pipeline of compounds for promising discovery targets for the treatment of cancer, the companies said.

Cellular senescence is a regulated biological process by which cells stop dividing irreversibly and is a normal part of aging.

However, the failure and induction of senescence also have an important role in the development and treatment of cancers, respectively.

Compounds that modulate senescence have enormous potential as novel anticancer agents.

Atropos and Atomwise will use their platform technologies and complementary capabilities to perform screens to identify and develop novel compounds for undisclosed targets that modulate cellular senescence and evaluate their potential for development as safe and effective drugs for the treatment of cancer.

Under the terms of the agreement, the joint venture company will have access to Atropos' and Atomwise's cutting-edge technology and expertise in aging, cancer biology, computational and medicinal chemistry, and artificial intelligence for drug discovery.

Founded in 2018, Atropos is a biotechnology platform company focused on the discovery, development, and commercialization of therapies targeting the formation of senescent cells. The company is leveraging unexploited insights in senescence biology to discover agents and modalities.

This disruptive approach to "aging" disorders and cancer, targets that which is common to these diseases, the stress-induced accumulation of the senescent cell in various tissues.

Atomwise Inc. invented the first deep learning AI technology for structure-based small molecule drug discovery.

Created in 2012, Atomwise now performs hundreds of projects per year in partnership with some of the world's largest pharmaceutical and agrochemical companies, as well as hundreds of universities and hospitals in 19 countries.

Atomwise has raised over USD 50m from leading venture capital firms to support the development and application of its AI technology.