Israeli-founded AI biotech company Immunai announced Thursday a new discovery collaboration with German pharmaceutical giant Boehringer Ingelheim aimed at identifying novel T-cell targets across immuno-oncology and autoimmune diseases.
The initial collaboration is valued at up to $15 million and will run through 2027, with the possibility of expansion based on scientific progress and mutual agreement, the companies said.
Under the agreement, Immunai and Boehringer Ingelheim will build a data foundation spanning cancer and autoimmune disease and apply Immunai’s single-cell artificial intelligence platform to thousands of patient samples. The goal is to identify patterns of T-cell dysfunction that could point to new drug targets.
T cells are a central part of the immune system. In cancer, T-cell dysfunction can prevent the immune system from effectively attacking tumors. In autoimmune disease, immune dysfunction can contribute to the body mistakenly attacking its own tissues.
What makes this research different to what came before?
The companies said the collaboration is designed to examine both fields together, rather than treating cancer immunology and autoimmune disease as separate areas of research. The most promising findings will be further explored in Immunai’s wet lab and could serve as starting points for new drug-discovery and development projects at Boehringer Ingelheim.
“Cancer immunology and autoimmune diseases both involve T-cell dysfunction, but they have largely been explored separately,” said Noam Solomon, PhD, CEO of Immunai. “This collaboration brings together large-scale, clinically grounded data, translational science and functional validation to support broad target discovery across both fields.”
Solomon said the companies hope that by taking an unbiased approach across thousands of patient samples, they can uncover biological insights and therapeutic opportunities “that would otherwise remain hidden.”
Immunai’s AMICA-OS AI operating system integrates immune-focused single-cell data with AI models and lab-based target validation. The company says the platform is intended to generate insights that can help pharmaceutical companies discover and develop new treatments.
Lamine Mbow, PhD, global head of discovery research at Boehringer Ingelheim, said the collaboration reflects the company’s effort to find new approaches in areas of major unmet medical need.
“Across oncology and inflammatory/autoimmune diseases, patients continue to face serious unmet medical need, and too many still lack treatment options that can meaningfully change the course of disease,” Mbow said.
“At Boehringer Ingelheim, we are committed to identifying and developing new treatment approaches and novel modalities in areas where patients need more,” he added.
The collaboration marks a new step in cancer research
Mikael Dolsten, MD, PhD, a board member of Immunai and former chief scientific officer at Pfizer, said the collaboration addresses a long-standing problem in drug discovery: the tendency to study related immune mechanisms in separate research settings.
“Researchers in oncology and autoimmune disease may be observing related T-cell dysfunction biology, but too often in separate systems and contexts,” Dolsten said. “What is distinctive about this collaboration is that it is intentionally designed to bridge that gap through a concrete discovery program.”
The announcement comes as major pharmaceutical companies are increasingly turning to AI and large-scale biological datasets to improve drug development.
Immunai, headquartered in New York City, uses single-cell genomics and machine learning to map the human immune system and support the development of new therapeutics. The company has raised close to $270 million to date and employs more than 170 people.
The Boehringer Ingelheim agreement follows several other Immunai partnerships with major pharmaceutical companies. In January 2026, Immunai announced a collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb to apply AMICA-OS across oncology clinical development programs. In May 2026, the company announced a third expansion of its multi-year collaboration with AstraZeneca.
Cancer and autoimmune diseases continue to affect millions of people worldwide. According to the companies, there were an estimated 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer deaths globally in 2022, while recent large-scale research suggests autoimmune disorders may affect around one in ten people.
For Boehringer Ingelheim, oncology and inflammatory or autoimmune diseases are both strategic areas of focus. The company said the collaboration with Immunai is part of its effort to pursue new biology and develop medicines for patients who still lack effective treatment options.