#ai #generativeai #drugdiscovery #pharma
In this episode of CXOTalk, we have the pleasure of speaking with Dr. Alex Zhavoronkov, the founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine.
Insilico Medicine uses artificial intelligence to enhance drug discovery. By combining generative adversarial networks (GANs), reinforcement learning, and other AI techniques, Insilico streamlines the design, synthesis, and testing of new molecules. Their approach has garnered attention, raising $400 million in funding so far.
Dr. Zhavoronkov shares insights into Insilico's goals, such as the accelerated development and testing of small molecules targeting specific diseases. We also explore how their software impacts pharmaceutical R&D by enabling researchers to investigate new targets, design molecules with certain properties, and potentially predict the outcomes of clinical trials.
Join us as we discuss the evolving landscape of pharmaceuticals and how generative AI can help discover new treatments for chronic diseases and promote a healthier future.
The conversion covers these topics:
► Early generative AI experiments & adversarial networks
► Generative AI in molecular drug design
► Advancements: AI techniques & reinforcement learning
► Insilico Medicine's funding journey & challenges
► Unique challenges in AI-based drug discovery
► First validation of AI-generated molecules
► Software for chemistry & biology applications
► Traditional vs. Insilico Medicine's approach
► Pharma challenges: high costs, low novelty, and diminishing returns
► Potential billion-dollar payout for successful Phase II drugs
► AI in drug development can increase success probability
► Early partnerships with large pharma and lessons learned
► Decision to stop doing pilots with big pharma companies
► Generative AI and public data
► De-biasing pharmaceutical research
► Automating the workflow and quality control
► Reinforcing generative AI with real experiments
► “Drug discovery is brutal”
► Drug discovery democratization
► AI in medical writing
► IP risks and generative AI
► AI and robotics to prevent aging
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Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D. is the founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, a leader in next-generation artificial intelligence technologies for drug discovery and biomarker development. He is also the founder of Deep Longevity, Inc, a spin-off of Insilico Medicine developing a broad range of artificial intelligence-based biomarkers of aging and longevity servicing healthcare providers and life insurance industry. In 2020, Deep Longevity was acquired by Endurance Longevity (HK: 0575). Beginning in 2015, he invented critical technologies in the field of generative adversarial networks (GANs) and reinforcement learning (RL) for the generation of novel molecular structures with the desired properties and generation of synthetic biological and patient data. He also pioneered applications of deep learning technologies for the prediction of human biological age using multiple data types, and transferred learning from aging into disease, target identification, and signaling pathway modeling. Under his leadership, Insilico has raised over $400 million in multiple rounds from expert investors, opened R&D centers in six countries or regions, and partnered with multiple pharmaceutical, biotechnology, and academic institutions, nominated 11 preclinical candidates, and has generated positive topline Phase 1 data in human clinical trials with an AI-discovered novel target and AI-designed novel molecule for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis that received Orphan Drug Designation from the FDA and is nearing Phase 2 clinical trials. Insilico also recently announced that its generative AI-designed drug for COVID-19 and related variants was approved for clinical trials.
Prior to founding Insilico, he worked in senior roles at ATI Technologies (a GPU company acquired by AMD in 2006), NeuroGNeuroinformatics, and the Biogerontology Research Foundation. Since 2012, he has published over 150 peer-reviewed research papers, and 2 books including "The Ageless Generation: How Biomedical Advances Will Transform the Global Economy" (Macmillan, 2013). He serves on the advisory or editorial boards of Trends in Molecular Medicine, Aging Research Reviews, Aging, Frontiers in Genetics, and founded and co-chairs the Annual Aging Research and Drug Discovery conference, the world's largest event on aging in the pharmaceutical industry. He is an adjunct professor of artificial intelligence at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.