Every sector is being affected by the rise of artificial intelligence. Venture capitalist John Flavin, co-founder and CEO of Portal Innovations, says he is using artificial intelligence to find the next biotech companies to invest in. Flavin told Asking for a Trend that his company has developed an “AI-enabled platform that can predict innovation and rank innovative inventors from universities.” He points out that most new drugs are developed “in university labs years before they become medicines.” Flavin wants to find those ideas and scientists early on and make early investments in those ventures.
Check out the video above to learn how some of Flavin's invested companies are leveraging AI.
For more expert insights and the latest market trends, click here to watch the full episode of “Ask the Trends.”
This post was written by Stephanie Mikulich.
Video Transcript
Another trend we'll be covering on the show, which I'm sure won't surprise you, is the AII megatrend, and I'm curious, John, how this technology is impacting and transforming your world, you know, investment in life sciences.
Yeah.
First, as you know, from a venture capitalist perspective, we have developed a unique tool called Star Gaze, which is an AI-enabled platform that can predict innovation and rank innovative inventors coming out of universities.
Remember, the lifeblood of a new drug begins in a university laboratory several years before it becomes a drug.
So we use this tool to search the universe and identify who is working on which hot technology areas.
How do we get there in the first place, make those investments, and use machine learning algorithms to use biomarkers to predict promising scientists working on cutting-edge science anywhere in the world, but especially here in the United States?
Now, if we look at our scientific base, we have a precision medicine company called Tempus, II out of Chicago that went public a few weeks ago.
In other words, AI can be used to speed up the process of determining which drugs will work for which patients for all kinds of illnesses, from cancer to cardiometabolic diseases.
Well, other companies like Recursion Pharma in Salt Lake City are also applying biotechnology and AI to drug identification in both neurology and oncology.
Well, that field is heating up rapidly and I think you're going to see great benefits from what's going on in that regard. Finally, quantum is going to be in the future.
Believe it or not, quantum is also beginning to be applied to the life sciences.
That is, the ability to simulate the drug discovery process, take shortcuts and speed up the process from petri dish to patient.
Well, I'm also really excited about what's going to happen in that field over the next 10 years.
