Insilico Medicine is an AI pharmaceutical company that started to make headlines recently because of its upcoming IPO on June 28th. So, what exactly do they do? In short, they use generative AI –and other forms of ML modeling– to (1) discover drugs and (2) develop the drugs.
The company was the first to get a drug discovered by AI to be accepted for a clinical trial. The drug is currently be tested in a phase II trial to treat pulmonary fibrosis –a fatal, unexplainable lung disease without any treatment.
So what exactly does this pharma company do differently than their competitors? First, they start off by using AI models trained on a ton of genomics/bioinformatics data to figure out what genes and proteins are most associated with a disease. Then, other AI models are used to predict the shape of a molecule that would best bind the gene or protein in question. Lastly, trials are run in order to test whether or not the drug is effective.
Pretty much, they use AI models to accelerate the drug discover and drug development process. Interestingly, the company started off just doing drug discovery that was outsourced to them by pharma companies until 2019 when they decided to develop their own drugs. This company has got some heavy-weight investors like Morgan Stanley, Qiming Venture Partners, Sequioa, and China International Capital Corp among others. It also seems like their focus is mainly on rare disease that are more complex in nature. Most of these disease have no treatments options at the moment likely because involve complex etiologies related to immunology, central nervous system, and oncology. But, it actually makes sense that they are focusing on complex diseases because AI models are apt at making complex, non-intuitive associations that are necessary to solve complex problems. Kind of random, but they also do work in the dermatology and anti-aging –a lucrative space to be in.
Overall, I’m excited to see how the IPO will unfold. I actually just put the date June 28th 2024 into my calendar. Maybe I’ll invest some of my med school loans 🙂
References:
- Wikipedia contributors. “Insilico Medicine.” Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia. Wikipedia, The Free Encyclopedia, Web.. Available: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Insilico_Medicine.
- “About Us – Insilico Medicine.” Insilico Medicine. Available: https://insilico.com/about/.
- “Insilico Medicine announces the initiation of Phase 2 clinical trial.” Insilico Medicine Blog. Available: https://insilico.com/blog/first_phase2.
- “Insilico Medicine Successfully Discovered Potent, Selective, and Orally Bioavailable Small Molecule Inhibitor of CDK8 Using Generative AI.” GlobeNewswire News Room. [Date of Publication: 12 April 2023]. Web. Available: https://www.globenewswire.com/news-release/2023/04/12/2645382/0/en/Insilico-Medicine-Successfully-Discovered-Potent-Selective-and-Orally-Bioavailable-Small-Molecule-Inhibitor-of-CDK8-Using-Generative-AI.html.
- “Insilico Medicine news release.” EurekAlert! Web. Available: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/980646.
- “Menarini Group and Insilico Medicine Enter Global Exclusive License Agreement for Novel KAT6 Inhibitor for Potential Breast Cancer Treatment and Other Oncology Indications.” Business Wire. [Date of Publication: 4 January 2024]. Web. Available: https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20240104885375/en/Menarini-Group-and-Insilico-Medicine-Enter-Global-Exclusive-License-Agreement-for-Novel-KAT6-Inhibitor-for-Potential-Breast-Cancer-Treatment-and-Other-Oncology-Indications.
