Insilico Medicine signs deal to advance use of AI in discovering new drugs

Insilico Medicine has a new agreement with a British investor’s biotech company that will result in the company’s platform being used to develop new compounds for use in drugs that treat aging and age-related diseases.
The startup, which is based at ETC’s Eastern campus, signed a deal with Juvenescence AI, according to a press release. As a result, the two companies have a drug development agreement under the title Juvenescence AI Limited. Along with the deal, Juvenescence made an investment into Insilico Medicine. The amount was not disclosed.
Insilico applies machine learning to the process of drug discovery. As founder Alex Zhavoronkov told Technical.ly Baltimore, the company’s platform is designed to use deep learning techniques to analyze how a compound will affect cells. This process is currently determined through trials.
“We are excited by the potential for AI to streamline the longest and most costly portions of the drug development cycle: clinical trials,” Juvenescence Chairman Jim Mellon said in a statement. “With Insilico Medicine’s help, we hope Juvenescence AI will both develop therapeutics that treat the diseases that plague all of us as we age and eventually treat the aging process itself.”
With the deal, Juvenescence AI will license several compound families from Insilico.