Pharmaceutical firm Isomorphic Labs is set to initiate human clinical trials for its oncology drugs created using AlphaFold 3, an AI tool developed by the company in collaboration with Google DeepMind.
Founded in 2021, Isomorphic Labs is a subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet. It is currently preparing to dose the first patients with the AI-engineered drug in clinical trials and is “staffing up” ahead of the trials, Isomorphic Labs president Colin Murdoch said in a recent interview with Fortune.
AlphaFold 3 is an AI tool that has been designed to help clinicians predict complex protein structures and molecular interactions. Using the tool, Isomorphic Labs were able to take major strides in terms of development of the drug.
Oncology drugs are essential medications as they play a vital role in the treatment of cancer. The drug either kills the cancer cells or slows their growth, allowing for further treatment. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), there were around 20 million new cancer cases and 9.7 million cancer-related deaths recorded in 2022. However, AI tools such as AlphaFold 3 are said to have vast potential in helping discover new types of drugs for treating terminal illnesses like cancer.
In March last year, Isomorphic Labs was able to raise over 600 million dollars through a funding round led by Thrive Capital. The company confirmed the use of this funding for the development of the AI drug-design engine, and helping toward their push to clinical trials.
“This funding will further turbocharge the development of our next-generation AI drug design engine, help us advance our own programmes into clinical development, and is a significant step forward towards our mission of one day solving all disease with the help of AI,” Demis Hassabis, the CEO of both Isomorphic Labs and Google DeepMind, said.
The company has inked partnerships worth over three billion dollars with pharma giants such as Novartis and Eli Lilly. The company’s goal is to build a “world-class drug design engine” that merges AI and human expertise to engineer new medications with a higher success rate at a cheaper cost for both manufacturers and consumers.
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Using AI for drug discovery
With the rapid rise of AI, other biotech companies such as Anima Biotech, Iktos, and Novo Nordisk are also harnessing the technology for more effective operations. Notably, Novo Nordisk signed a deal worth 2.76 billion dollars with Valo Health, aiming to make use of AI in their drug discovery process.
As per GlobalData statistics, over 3,000 drugs exist that have either been developed or re-purposed using AI technologies. While most of them are in the early stages of their development, they are still to be clinically tested on humans.
With its upcoming human tests, Isomorphic Labs could potentially pave the way for further progress in the biotech application of AI.