TEL AVIV, Israel– CytoReason, a leader in developing computational disease models for predictive insights, announced today it secured an aggregated $80 million from OurCrowd, NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NVDA), Pfizer (NYSE: PFE), and Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE: TMO).
CytoReason will use this investment to expand the application of its models into additional indications, grow its proprietary molecular and clinical data, and establish an office in Cambridge, Massachusetts later this year.
Reduced R&D timelines and improved probability of technical and regulatory success (PTRS) are top priorities across life sciences companies. Speed, safety, and accuracy are critical when making asset-related R&D decisions. CytoReason provides therapeutic area leaders with molecular-level insights and valuable AI tools to make data-driven decisions, helping them improve the probability of phase 2 success and optimize their R&D portfolio.
Since the company announced the expansion of its Pfizer partnership in 2022, CytoReason has added three major pharma partnerships, expanded its coverage of disease models to central nervous system (CNS)-related diseases, and partnered with leading data organizations.
CytoReason’s technology and scientific breakthroughs are regularly published in top-tier journals such as Nature, Cell, and Gut. In 2023 alone, CytoReason’s scientists published 20 peer-reviewed articles in 16 journals, demonstrating the scientific throughput of the company’s team and technology.
Six of the world’s top ten pharma companies use CytoReason’s technology to make data-driven decisions in immunology, inflammation, immuno-oncology, metabolism, and other therapeutic areas.
David Harel, Co-founder and CEO of CytoReason, said: “CytoReason is grateful for this infusion of new capital from industry technology powerhouses such as NVIDIA, Pfizer, and Thermo Fisher. The world understands that data alone is not enough, and that the future of data-driven insights is in data modeling. CytoReason is at the forefront of this revolution in pharma R&D.”
Kimberly Powell, Vice President and General Manager, Healthcare at NVIDIA, said: “Over the last year, CytoReason has strengthened its platforms using NVIDIA’s latest accelerated computing and AI platforms, achieving more than 10x acceleration for inference workloads. Our continued collaboration with CytoReason will help enable more life sciences companies to benefit from CytoReason’s predictive clinical insights.”
Mikael Dolsten, Chief Scientific Officer and President, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical at Pfizer, said: “The rapid expansion of new technologies, like artificial intelligence, holds tremendous potential to help transform what is possible in human health. Our collaboration with CytoReason leverages its cutting-edge immunology multiomics platform to augment Pfizer’s own R&D capabilities and generate invaluable insights into new drug development pathways for patients. We’re pleased to see the company’s recent growth and look forward to our continued work together.”
Bhooshi De Silva, Head of Strategic Capital at Thermo Fisher Scientific, commented on the strategic investment: “Our investment in CytoReason underscores the significant potential of computational disease models to revolutionize data usage in pharma R&D. By combining Thermo Fisher’s vast data repositories and proven life sciences expertise with CytoReason’s AI technology, we aim to push the boundaries of what is possible in personalized healthcare.”
Jon Medved, CEO of OurCrowd said: “We’re thrilled to see yet another Israeli company leading the way in healthcare’s AI revolution. CytoReason’s strategic partnership with NVIDIA only emphasizes this point. I’m convinced that the involvement of leading asset managers and critical strategic partners in this funding round will further propel CytoReason’s journey.”
CytoReason is excited to use this new funding to accelerate its growth and further cement its position in the market. This will enable more pharma and biotech companies to increase the speed and accuracy of asset development across therapeutic areas to benefit more patients worldwide.
Bank Hapoalim provided structured financing through its Tech Sector, Business Banking Division. Nomura International Plc and Locust Walk advised the company in the transaction.
