Amgen establishes a corporate lab at Mila, as the partnership between the two organizations grows
MONTREAL, QC, (January 18, 2023) – Amgen, one of the world’s leading biotechnology companies, and Mila – Quebec Artificial Intelligence Institute, today announced the expansion of their partnership aimed at further transforming Artificial Intelligence (AI) guided drug development. As part of this evolution, Amgen is establishing a corporate laboratory within Mila’s headquarters where scientists from both organizations will interact and engage. Amgen and Mila have also agreed to collaborate on specific projects to enhance the way that machine learning is applied to the discovery and development of biologic therapeutics, projects in which Professor Yoshua Bengio, founder and scientific director of Mila, will participate. This announcement extends the partnership between the two organizations that began in 2021.
“We are very excited by this new step in our partnership with Mila”, said Peter Grandsard, Amgen’s Executive Director, CRADI (Center for Research Acceleration by Digital Innovation). “For Amgen, the establishment of a corporate lab at Mila, a model unique in the world, is a strong testament to the importance we attach to the work we are undertaking with Professor Bengio and the Mila team. These projects aim to develop advanced algorithms and models to support the discovery and optimization of biologics and will be carried out under an open science model. They will not only have an impact on Amgen’s future therapeutic developments but will also benefit the entire scientific community involved in health innovations”, he added. “In the months and years to come, we also expect to expand our collaboration with Mila to other challenges in therapeutic discovery.”
“We are proud of Amgen’s growing activities with Mila in Montreal, globally renowned for its AI expertise and leadership,” stated Ugur Gunaydin, General Manager of Amgen Canada. “Our goal with this collaboration is to continue to develop the next generation of therapeutics as we advance our mission to serve patients.”
“We are delighted to announce this expanded partnership with Amgen, one of Mila’s major partners in the health field, which will help our respective teams work even better together to develop certain applications of machine learning in biotechnology.” said Stéphane Létourneau, Executive Vice-President of Mila.
About Amgen
As a leader in innovation, Amgen Canada understands the value of science. With main operations located in Mississauga, Ontario’s vibrant biomedical cluster, and its research facility in Burnaby, B.C., Amgen Canada has been an important contributor to advancements in science and innovation in Canada since 1991. The company contributes to the development of new therapies and new ways of using existing medicines in partnership with many of Canada’s leading healthcare, academic, research, government and patient organizations. To learn more about Amgen Canada, visit www.amgen.ca and follow us on Twitter.
About Mila
Founded by Professor Yoshua Bengio of the University of Montreal, Mila is an artificial intelligence research institute that brings together over 1,000 researchers specializing in machine learning. Based in Montreal, Mila’s mission is to be a global hub for scientific advances that inspire innovation and development of AI for the benefit of all. Mila is a non-profit organization recognized worldwide for its significant contributions to the field of deep learning, particularly in language modeling, machine translation, object recognition, and generative models. For more information, visit Mila.quebec.
CONTACT
Natasha Bond, Head of Corporate Affairs
Amgen Canada
905-285-3007
Marc-Antoine Guérard, Communications Advisor
Mila – Quebec AI Institute