Oxford, UK-based pharmatech company Exscientia has entered into a binding agreement to acquire artificial intelligence (AI) based precision medicine specialist Allcyte.

Allcyte’s technology platform uses AI to analyse drug activity in love patient samples at single-cell resolution.

It is also the first AI platform that has been clinically validated to improve treatment outcomes in a prospective study, according to Exscientia.

In the EXALT-1 study, Allcyte’s approach predicted which therapy would be the most effective for late-stage haematological cancer patients, based on the drug activity in their tissue samples.

The study achieved a 55% overall response rate and statistically significant improvement in progression-free survival over prior lines of therapy – demonstrating the ‘real-world patient selection capabilities of Allcyte’s platform’.

Following the acquisition, Exscientia will ‘significantly’ expand Allcyte’s platform and extend it into early discovery.

By doing this, Exscientia is aiming to apply Allcyte’s technologies from target discovery and medical health supplies optimisation all the way through to patient selection.

“Allcyte is able to demonstrate what therapy actually works in the individual patient with the most disease relevant screening platform we have seen,” said Andrew Hopkins, chief executive officer of Exscientia.

“Combining Allcyte’s platform with Exscientia’s technologies can redefine how drugs are developed, enabling integrated discovery and patient selection. Allcyte has assembled an outstanding team in Vienna and integration of the two platforms truly allows us to build our vision of patient-first AI,” he added.

Exscientia is also planning to expand Allcyte’s Vienna site as its new hub in the EU, the company said in a statement.

The transaction is currently being reviewed under a customary Austrian regulatory process prior to closing.

Under the terms of the agreement, Exscientia will pay €50m comprising cash and Exscientia ordinary shares.