AstraZeneca struck a multi-year research partnership valued at up to $555 million with Algen Biotechnologies to use Algen’s AlgenBrain platform — a CRISPR-enabled, AI-integrated functional genomics system — to discover and validate novel therapeutic targets in human disease biology. AstraZeneca gains exclusive commercialization rights for targets selected under the collaboration and will combine its drug-development expertise with Algen’s human-cell functional screening. Algen CEO Chun-Hao Huang framed the deal as proof that coupling high-throughput functional genomics with machine learning can accelerate translational insights. AstraZeneca’s chief data scientist Jim Weatherall noted the approach anchors discovery in human biology rather than animal models. The agreement underscores Big Pharma’s continued capital allocation to AI-enabled target ID and functional genomics as a route to de-risk early R&D.