Centogene N.V. and Insilico Medicine announced research and development collaboration to accelerate the discovery of novel therapeutic targets for Niemann-Pick disease type C. The duration of the research collaboration will initially last 20 weeks. As the framework for the collaboration, CENTOGENE will leverage its Bio/Databank with multiomic patient data and NPC cell lines (for transcriptomic data and validation of identified candidates), through the use of Insilico's comprehensive novel target discovery AI platform for the identification of differential metabolites, pathways, and genetic modifiers. Both Companies will analyze identified targets before pursuing validation in CENTOGENE's cellular models, and CENTOGENE will retain exclusive rights to any intellectual property generated by the research.

If the research demonstrates translational robustness, a further stage of drug development would become accessible – identifying molecules that act on the identified targets. AI-based methods are expected to accelerate this process – ultimately turning years into months for both the target-to-hit and hit-to-lead phases.