SRI International (SRI) today announced the company has entered into a collaboration agreement with Janssen Pharmaceutica NV (Janssen), one of the Janssen Pharmaceutical Companies of Johnson & Johnson. Under the terms of the agreement, the organizations and their scientists will leverage SRI's SynFiniTM platform, an artificial intelligence (Al)-guided, automated synthetic- chemistry system for small molecule drug discovery. The agreement was facilitated by Johnson & Johnson Innovation.

SRI's SynFini platform combines Al and automation to accelerate small-molecule drug discovery and development. The platform is comprised of four components (DASL^TM SynRoute TM       ynJet T" and AutoSyn *M ) that work seamlessly together to automate the design of molecules and the synthetic routes to make them, reaction screening and optimization (RSO), and production of target molecules.

"Through both SRI-driven programs and a growing number of collaborations with leading pharmaceutical and biotechnology strategic partners, the SynFini platform is demonstrating the ability to use Al and automation to combine complex design with rapid synthesis and testing to overcome many of the constraints of traditional drug discovery," said Nathan Collins, Ph.D., chief strategy officer of SRI's Biosciences Division and head of the SynFini program. "We are excited to be working with the exceptional scientists at Janssen in the application and further development of this novel platform."

The SynFini platform is designed to accelerate the "design-make -test" cycle of multi- parametric optimization in small molecule hit-to-lead and lead optimization. Streamlining these steps with a highly data driven process in drug discovery has the potential to bring new drugs to the patients who need them faster and more cost effectively.