Aitia‘s Gemini Digital Twins will help identify subpopulations of patients who could respond favorably to Servier’s LRRK2 in development treatment

Suresnes (France), 08 January 2024 – Servier, an independent international pharmaceutical group, and Aitia, the leader in the application of causal AI and Digital Twins, have strengthened today their partnership by signing a new contract focused on collaboration in neuroscience. The aim of this cooperation is to leverage Aitia’s Gemini Digital Twins to identify patients most likely to respond positively to Servier’s Leucine-Rich-Repeat-Kinase 2 inhibitor (LRRK2i) in development treatment for Parkinson’s disease.

Parkinson’s disease is the second most frequent neurodegenerative illness, surpassed only by Alzheimer ‘s disease¹, and it affects more than 10 million people in the world². This neurological disease causes slow and progressive degeneration of neurons. For patients, the symptoms are multiple: motor problems such as tremors and muscle stiffness, mental health and language disorders, and sleep imbalances, as well as pain.

Under the terms of the collaboration, Servier will combine data from its previous work in the field of neuroscience and Parkinson’s disease with Aitia’s expertise in AI-enabled drug discovery.  Aitia’s Gemini Digital Twins, computational representations of disease that capture genetic and molecular interactions that causally drive clinical and physiological outcomes, will simulate the mechanisms of action of LRRK2 inhibitor treatment to highlight biomarkers in patients. Ultimately, these discoveries may make it possible to define subpopulations of patients who will respond favorably to LRRK2 inhibition.

“This new collaboration with Aitia highlights Servier’s ambition to potentially provide innovative solutions to patients with high unmet medical needs. I am confident that by combining scientific innovation with the power of digital technologies, such as Aitia’s Gemini Digital Twins, we may be able to better understand the biology of Parkinson’s disease and transform our drug discovery process in the field of neuroscience. This approach could allow us to provide increasingly personalized solutions to patients affected by this pathology. I look forward to discussing our approach to research and collaboration in neuroscience at the upcoming J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference next week.”

Ross Jeggo, Global Head of Neuroscience and Immuno-inflammation Therapeutic Area in the Research and Development department at Servier

“We are honored to continue to work closely with the team at Servier and harness the power of causal AI, human multi-omics data, and our Gemini Digital Twins to potentially help develop new medicines that can have a meaningful impact on the lives of patients with Parkinson’s Disease and their families.”

Jean-Michel Gries, President and COO at Aitia

As part of its Servier 2030 strategy, the Group aims to be a player in the neuroscience space, relying on a significant investment in R&D, a patient-centric approach, and the development of targeted therapies.

In August 2022, Servier and Aitia signed a first partnership aimed at strengthening the understanding of the biological mechanisms of multiple myeloma (MM, a bone marrow cancer), and thus advancing research in this area. Then, in May 2023, the collaboration expanded with the signing of a multi-year agreement for drug discovery and simulation in pancreatic cancer using AI.

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