Owkin nabs $80M ahead of launching drug trial with Bristol Myers Squibb

Owkin, a medical A.I. company, has reportedly secured around $80 million as it gets ready to introduce a drug trial with the American pharmaceutical behemoth Bristol Myers Squibb.

This new funding of $80 million is a split between a Series B-1 equity round headed by Bristol Myers Squibb and up-front charges for trials of CVD drugs using Owkin's technology.

However, the exact figures were not revealed by the firm, but as per a credible source, the equity investment stands at $50 million.

This new funding brings the total capital raised by the startup to over $300 million, adding to an earlier declared $250 million.

The French American startup, established in 2016, has developed a technology for accelerating drug discovery and development. Its platform empowers medical researchers, doctors, and pharmaceutical firms to discover new drug candidates and clinical trials while picturing health data from typically siloed sources like hospitals across Europe and the U.S.

The ultimate goal of Owkin is to use A.I. technology to bring these new drugs to market faster through more effective and precise trials. Its A.I. also pursues to make clinical trials more effective for patients, as this technology can envisage several biomarkers for disease and treatment outcomes for diseases like breast cancer.

This new technology also intends to evaluate the efficiency of treatments using controlling variate adjustment, a method of increasing the trial's arithmetical power without increasing patient data and the sample size from earlier clinical trials.

Furthermore, the firm will be able to secure additional investment from Bristol Myers Squibb if it achieves some specific breakthroughs via the trial.

It is vital to note that Owkin has struck a similar partnership with Sanofi last year that saw the latter invest $180 million in the startup while applying its technology to drug discovery for four types of cancers.

Source Credit - https://statusmarkets.in/exclusive-medical-ai-startup-owkin-just-secured-80-million-as-it-gears-up-to-launch-a-drug-trial-with-the-pharmaceutical-giant-bristol-myers-squibb-statusmarkets/