First drug made entirely by artificial intelligence begins human trials
A drug developed by Insilico Medicine for chronic lung disease is beginning clinical trials with human patients. The special thing is that the drug was produced by artificial intelligence.
Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong-based biotech startup that has received more than $400 million in funding, has developed a new drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic lung disease. What makes the developed treatment important is that, as the CEO of the company, Alex Zhavoronkov, said, the drug was produced entirely by artificial intelligence.
The drug was developed by artificial intelligence
Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF) is a disease with increasing prevalence in recent years and currently affects 100,000 people in the country and 5 million people worldwide, according to the US National Institutes of Health. If left untreated, this disease can lead to death within two to five years. “This is the first fully productive AI-developed drug to reach human clinical trials, and in particular Phase II trials with patients,” said Alex Zhavoronkov, founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine.
In fact, there are other artificial intelligence-designed drugs already in trial processes, but Insilico Medicine’s solution is the first drug both discovered by artificial intelligence and designed by artificial intelligence. In the statement, it was stated that the discovery process of the drug started in 2020. The firm also reportedly has two more drugs produced, in part, by artificial intelligence, at the clinical stage. One is the Covid-19 drug, which is in phase one clinical trials, and the other is a cancer drug that has recently received FDA approval to begin clinical trials.
“When this company was founded, we focused on algorithms that develop technology that can discover and design new molecules,” Zhavoronkov said, while stating that the artificial intelligence-generated IPF drug will enter clinical trials with human patients this week. If the current phase two study is successful, the firm will be able to start phase three studies with hundreds of participants. While Insilico expects its phase two trial to conclude next year, Insilico believes the drug will be ready to market in a few years. If the drug passes all the tests, we can expect artificial intelligence to revolutionize drug discovery and development.
