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AstraZeneca Teams Up with AI Firm to Develop Cancer Drug

The offices of British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PLC in Macclesfield, England, on July 21, 2020. (Paul Ellis/AFP)
The offices of British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PLC in Macclesfield, England, on July 21, 2020. (Paul Ellis/AFP)
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AstraZeneca Teams Up with AI Firm to Develop Cancer Drug

The offices of British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PLC in Macclesfield, England, on July 21, 2020. (Paul Ellis/AFP)
The offices of British-Swedish multinational pharmaceutical and biopharmaceutical company AstraZeneca PLC in Macclesfield, England, on July 21, 2020. (Paul Ellis/AFP)

Anglo-Swedish drug maker AstraZeneca has signed a deal worth up to $247 million with US artificial intelligence (AI) biologics firm Absci to design an antibody to fight cancer, the Financial Times reported on Sunday.

The collaboration aims to harness Absci's AI technology for large-scale protein analysis to find a viable oncology therapy, a leading focus of AstraZeneca, the report said. It did not say what kind of cancer they plan to target.

Absci and AstraZeneca did not immediately respond to a Reuters requests for comment.

The deal includes an upfront fee for Absci, research and development funding and milestone payments, as well as royalties on any product sales, the newspaper said.

Sean McClain, Absci’s founder and chief executive, was quoted as saying the application of engineering principles to drug discovery improved the potential of success and reduced time spent in development.

Absci applies generative artificial intelligence to design optimal drug candidates based on target affinity, safety, manufacturability and other traits.

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Expedition Organizers Say 2 Climbers Have Died on Mount Everest

(FILES) This photograph taken on April 26, 2018 shows a general view of Everest base camp, some 140 kilometres northeast of Kathmandu. (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP)
(FILES) This photograph taken on April 26, 2018 shows a general view of Everest base camp, some 140 kilometres northeast of Kathmandu. (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP)
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Expedition Organizers Say 2 Climbers Have Died on Mount Everest

(FILES) This photograph taken on April 26, 2018 shows a general view of Everest base camp, some 140 kilometres northeast of Kathmandu. (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP)
(FILES) This photograph taken on April 26, 2018 shows a general view of Everest base camp, some 140 kilometres northeast of Kathmandu. (Photo by PRAKASH MATHEMA / AFP)

An Indian and a Filipino climber have died while climbing Mount Everest as hundreds of climbers are attempting to scale the world’s highest peak, expedition organizers said Friday.

The Indian climber, identified as Subrata Ghosh, died on Thursday just below the 8,849-meter (29,032-foot) summit of the peak while he was returning from the top.

The other climber, identified as Philipp Santiago, 45, from the Philippines, died Wednesday while he was headed to the summit. He had reached Camp 4, which is the highest camp on the mountain, and was preparing for the final bid to reach the summit, The Associated Press reported.

Bodha Raj Bhandari of the Nepal-based Snowy Horizon Trek and Expedition, which equipped and organized the expedition, said the bodies were still on the mountain and it was yet to be decided if and when they would be brought down.

Retrieving bodies is both expensive and difficult as it takes many people to drag them down the icy slopes of the mountain.

The spring climbing season began in March and ends at the end of May.

May is the best month to climb the peak and climbers get only a few opportunities when the weather conditions improve, allowing just time for them to try attempt scale the peak.

Everest was first climbed in 1953 by New Zealander Edmund Hillary and Nepali Sherpa Tenzing Norgay. More than 300 people have died on Everest since then.