Nvidia and Pfizer Lead $80 Million Funding Round for Israeli AI Medical Tech Firm CytoReason

Nvidia joins $80M funding round for Israeli AI disease model company CytoReason - SiliconANGLE

Nvidia joins $80M funding round for Israeli AI disease model company CytoReason Israeli artificial intelligence disease model company CytoReason Ltd. has raised $80 million in new funding in a round that included Nvidia Corp. to expand the application of its models, grow its molecular and clinical data and establish an office in the U.S. later this year. Founded in 2016, CytoReason develops AI-driven disease models to provide insights into human diseases and drug treatments. The company's platform allows for the comparison of treatments, prioritization of drug programs and real-time updates that allow scientists and executives to make decisions around drug portfolios and drug performance. Core to its offering is a pitch to reduce research and development times and improve the probability of technical and regulatory success across life sciences companies, organizations involved in the research, development and commercialization of pharmaceuticals, biotechnology products and medical devices.CytoReason's platform prioritizes speed, safety and accuracy, which are all critical when making research and development decisions. The company provides therapeutic area leaders - experts responsible for guiding research and development strategies, clinical practices and treatment approaches within specific fields - with molecular-level insights and AI tools to assist in making data-driven decisions. The tools also help in improving the probability of drug testing success. CytoReason has seen strong growth and success, with technology and scientific breakthroughs that have come about through its platform's use regularly being published in top-tier journals such as Nature, Cell and Gut. CytoReason's scientists published 20 peer-reviewed articles in 16 journals in 2023, 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. One of those pharma companies is Pfizer Inc., which joined Nvidia, OurCrowd Ltd. and Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. in participating in the venture capital round. Pfizer has also had a partnership with CytoReason since previously investing $20 million in to the company in 2022. "The rapid expansion of new technologies, like artificial intelligence, holds tremendous potential to help transform what is possible in human health," Mikael Dolsten, chief scientific officer and president, Worldwide Research, Development and Medical at Pfizer, said in a statement. "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." Nvidia's interest in CytoReason is, perhaps unsurprisingly, due to the company using Nvidia AI chips. "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," Kimberly Powell, vice president and general manager of healthcare at Nvidia, commented on the deal. "Our continued collaboration with CytoReason will help enable more life sciences companies to benefit from CytoReason's predictive clinical insights." Including the new funding, CytoReason has raised approximately $180 million to date, according to data from Tracxn.

Nvidia, Pfizer Lead $80 Million Funding for Israeli Medical AI Tech Firm CytoReason

JERUSALEM (Reuters) - Israel's CytoReason, which uses AI to develop disease models, said on Wednesday it had raised $80 million in a private funding round. Nvidia, Pfizer, Thermo Fisher and venture capital investor OurCrowd participated in the round, CytoReason said. The company said it aims to expand the application of its models into additional indications and grow its proprietary molecular and clinical data. It also plans to establish an office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, later this year. In 2022, Pfizer expanded its partnership with CytoReason with a $20 million investment that could reach $110 million by 2027. "The rapid expansion of new technologies, like artificial intelligence, holds tremendous potential to help transform what is possible in human health," said Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer's chief scientific officer. "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." CytoReason said six of the world's top 10 pharma companies use its technology to make data-driven decisions in immunology, inflammation, immuno-oncology, metabolism, and other therapeutic areas using an AI platform of computational disease models. (Reporting by Steven Scheer; editing by Jason Neely)

Nvidia, Pfizer lead $80 million funding for Israeli medical AI tech firm CytoReason

JERUSALEM - Israel's CytoReason, which uses AI to develop disease models, said on Wednesday it had raised $80 million in a private funding round. Nvidia, Pfizer, Thermo Fisher and venture capital investor OurCrowd participated in the round, CytoReason said. The company said it aims to expand the application of its models into additional indications and grow its proprietary molecular and clinical data. It also plans to establish an office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, later this year. In 2022, Pfizer expanded its partnership with CytoReason with a $20 million investment that could reach $110 million by 2027. "The rapid expansion of new technologies, like artificial intelligence, holds tremendous potential to help transform what is possible in human health," said Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer's chief scientific officer. "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." CytoReason said six of the world's top 10 pharma companies use its technology to make data-driven decisions in immunology, inflammation, immuno-oncology, metabolism, and other therapeutic areas using an AI platform of computational disease models.

Nvidia, Pfizer lead $80 million funding for Israeli medical AI tech firm CytoReason

The company said it aims to expand the application of its models into additional indications and grow its proprietary molecular and clinical data. It also plans to establish an office in Cambridge, Massachusetts, later this year. In 2022, Pfizer expanded its partnership with CytoReason with a $20 million investment that could reach $110 million by 2027. "The rapid expansion of new technologies, like artificial intelligence, holds tremendous potential to help transform what is possible in human health," said Mikael Dolsten, Pfizer's chief scientific officer. "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." CytoReason said six of the world's top 10 pharma companies use its technology to make data-driven decisions in immunology, inflammation, immuno-oncology, metabolism, and other therapeutic areas using an AI platform of computational disease models. (Reporting by Steven Scheer; editing by Jason Neely)

CytoReason Secures $80M from OurCrowd, NVIDIA, Pfizer, and Thermo Fisher Scientific to Scale Its AI Disease Models and Establish US Hub in Cambridge, Massachusetts By Investing.com

New funding will expand CytoReason's disease models and proprietary data, enabling R&D leaders at partner companies to make strategic decisions with greater speed and precision. TEL AVIV, Israel--(BUSINESS WIRE)--CytoReason, a leader in developing computational disease models for predictive insights, announced today it secured an aggregated $80 million from OurCrowd, NVIDIA (Nasdaq: NASDAQ:NVDA), Pfizer (NYSE: NYSE:PFE), and Thermo Fisher Scientific (NYSE:TMO) (NYSE: ™O). This press release features multimedia. View the full release here: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240717912688/en/ 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 Securities and Locust Walk advised the company in the transaction. About CytoReason CytoReason is a tech company transforming biopharma's decision-making from trial and error to data-driven, using computational disease models for predictive asset insights. Therapeutic area leaders, research teams, and scientists of all levels rely on CytoReason's technology to increase the speed and accuracy of R&D decisions. For example, scientists can prioritize potential targets and indications, and stratify patient populations. Program leaders can compare drugs across multiple diseases or multiple drugs within a single disease. C-level executives can gain valuable insights by comparing their R&D portfolios to treatment alternatives. Learn more at www.cytoreason.com.