Aqemia and Sanofi Expand AI Drug Discovery Collaboration with New Target Nomination
Key Insights
Aqemia (search) and Sanofi have expanded their multi-year research collaboration, first announced in December 2023, with the nomination of a new therapeutic target and an additional milestone payment.
The partnership makes Aqemia (search) eligible for up to $140 million in total upfront and milestone payments across all programs, spanning from hit identification to development candidate selection.
Aqemia (search)'s Qemi (search) platform uses physics-based generative AI that generates its own training data, enabling work on first-in-class targets where chemical data is scarce.
Aqemia (search), the drug invention company combining generative AI and quantum-inspired physics to invent small molecule drugs, has expanded its multi-year research collaboration with global pharmaceutical company Sanofi. The expansion, announced on July 17, 2026, is marked by the nomination of a new therapeutic target and an additional milestone payment, signaling growing confidence in the partnership first established in December 2023.
Under the terms of the collaboration, Aqemia (search) is eligible to receive up to a total of $140 million in upfront and milestone payments across programs. The deal spans the full drug discovery journey, from the identification of initial hits through to the selection of a development candidate. Financial specifics remain partially undisclosed, with neither the upfront payment from the original 2023 agreement nor the size of the payment tied to this latest target nomination being made public. The companies have also not itemized how the $140 million ceiling splits between discovery-stage, development, and potential commercial milestones.
A Physics-Based Approach to AI Drug Discovery
Central to the collaboration is Qemi (search), Aqemia (search)'s proprietary physics-based generative AI platform. Unlike conventional machine learning approaches that require large amounts of experimental data for training, Qemi generates the data it needs in-house through highly efficient physics-based calculations right from the start of each research project. This design is intended to address first-in-class targets where chemical data is scarce—a category Aqemia says has been a focus area of the Sanofi work.
Aqemia (search) leverages Qemi (search) to design novel molecules addressing Sanofi's targets of choice, working in close collaboration with Sanofi scientific teams. Sanofi retains responsibility for wet lab research, clinical development, and commercialization of any resulting compounds.
Cross-Continental Collaboration
The partnership now operates across multiple continents, with Aqemia (search) researchers based in Paris and London working alongside Sanofi scientists in Boston, Frankfurt, and Paris. According to the companies, the joint way of working is now well established, and Aqemia's platform has been put to work on Sanofi's targets of interest, including difficult, first-in-class projects with limited chemical data upfront.
Maximilien Levesque, CEO and co-founder of Aqemia (search), commented on the expansion: "We are thrilled to expand the collaboration with the nomination of a new target. It shows that our physics-based generative AI can deliver on real, hard projects, and reflects the strong ways of working and trust between our teams. We are committed to inventing innovative drugs in close alliance with Sanofi's experts."
Strategic Context
The Aqemia (search) collaboration represents one component of Sanofi's broader AI partnering strategy. The pharmaceutical company has assembled a diversified roster of AI partnerships spanning computational disease modeling, agentic AI systems, and clinical trial recruitment tools, including collaborations with CytoReason, Owkin, and Formation Bio and OpenAI. Against this backdrop, the Aqemia partnership functions as a focused node within a broader generative AI drug development strategy, with Aqemia's quantum-inspired physics approach offering a complementary angle specifically centered on molecule design for hard-to-drug targets.
Aqemia (search), founded in 2019 and based in Paris and London, has built a track record as a repeat platform licensor to large pharmaceutical partners. The company previously extended a separate collaboration with Servier in January 2023 to pursue an undruggable immuno-oncology target, and in June 2024 reported that AI-designed molecules from that program showed efficacy both in vitro and in vivo. No specific target, indication, or molecule was disclosed in connection with this latest Sanofi expansion.