(Reuters) - AstraZeneca will pay $18 million to biotechnology firm Immunai Inc to use the New York-based firm's AI model of the immune system to make certain cancer drug trials more efficient, the latter said on Thursday.

The initial phase of the collaboration will focus on clinical decision-making processes, such as dose selection, understanding mechanisms of action, distinguishing between patient responders and non-responders,

AstraZeneca said on Monday its experimental precision drug developed with Japan's Daiichi Sankyo did not significantly improve overall survival for patients with a type of breast cancer in a late-stage trial.

AstraZeneca and Daiichi Sankyo’s TROP2-directed antibody-drug conjugate (ADC) has again failed to improve overall survival (OS) in a phase 3 trial. The latest miss happened in breast cancer, a setting in which Gilead’s rival Trodelvy significantly improved OS in a prior late-phase study.

Key Takeaways A breast cancer drug being developed by AstraZeneca failed to "achieve statistical significance" in helping patients live longer than with chemotherapy in a phase 3 trial.The trial included over 700 patients with inoperable or metastatic breast cancer.

The approved indication involves using durvalumab in combination with chemotherapy as a neoadjuvant treatment, followed by durvalumab monotherapy post-surgery. Shares of Astrazeneca Pharma India Ltd ended at ₹6,