Relation Therapeutics lands $35m to discover osteoporosis drugs with AI
Relation Therapeutics lands $35m to discover osteoporosis drugs with AI Danny Sullivan
AI drug discovery firm boosts seed funding to $60m to solve bone-related diseases, immunology and metabolic disorders.
London-based techbio company Relation Therapeutics has secured $35 million in new seed financing to advance its AI drug discovery platform. With an initial focus on bone-related disorders, namely osteoporosis, the company employs a blend of experimental techniques and computational analysis, bringing together single-cell multi-omics, functional assays, and machine learning algorithms to decode the biological processes underlying human health and disease.
Affecting millions of people around the world, osteoporosis is defined by the deterioration in bone mass that is often a result of the aging process – in particular affecting women at the time of menopause. Relation’s work in the disease is supported by proprietary data resources, including a comprehensive functional single-cell bone atlas derived from patient samples, called Osteomics.
The new funding round, which brings the total raised by Relation so far to $60 million, was led by DCVC and NVentures, the venture arm of NVIDIA, with participation from Magnetic Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Jonathan Milner (founder of Abcam), ARK Invest, and Deerfield Management Company.
“The successful techbio companies will be those who build a defensible advantage by generating world-class datasets about the biology of interest, and who apply the latest advances in large AI models with unique guardrails to extract actionable and credible predictions that guide wet-lab work—all in the service of transforming drug discovery,” said Jason Pontin, General Partner at DCVC. “Relation is swiftly proving out that strategy for osteoporosis as a first indication, and we can’t wait for them to bring their advantages to bear on other disease areas in their pipeline.”
Relation says the funding will be used to propel its osteoporosis pipeline towards clinical trials while initiating exploration into new therapeutic areas. The company claims its technology holds promise beyond bone-related diseases, with immunology and metabolic disorders also on its roadmap.
“This investment offers more than just funding; it brings on board key strategic development partners NVIDIA, Deerfield Management Company and ARK Invest, along with the expertise of our top-tier institutional investors,” said Charles Campbell Roberts, co-founder and Chair of Relation. “The round will catalyse our ability to unearth causal biology using machine learning, including our LLMs adapted for biology, and accelerate the development of new therapies for patients.”
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