Alex Zaboronkov (left) of the company’s robotics research institute in Suzhou, China, with Insilico Medicine’s founder and CEO Feng Zhao, co-CEO and chief scientific officer. Mr. Ren.
Source: in silico medicine
The first drug, entirely generated by artificial intelligence, entered clinical trials this week with human patients.
Hong Kong-based biotech startup Insilico Medicine, which has raised more than $400 million in funding, has developed a drug called INS018_055 to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a chronic disease that causes scarring in the lungs. According to the National Institutes of Health, the disease has increased in prevalence in recent decades, currently affecting about 100,000 people in the United States and can be fatal within two to five years without treatment. It is said that there is a sexuality.
Alex Zaboronkov, Founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, told CNBC, “This is the first fully generative study to reach a human clinical trial, specifically a Phase II trial in patients. It’s a possible AI drug,” he said. “While other AI-designed drugs are in clinical trials, our drug is the first with both new AI-discovered targets and AI-generated new designs.”
According to Zaboronkov, the drug discovery process will begin in 2020, with a “moonshot” drug that will primarily focus on slowing progression and overcoming the challenges of current treatments that can cause unpleasant side effects. is expected to develop
He said Insilico’s decision to focus on IPF was partly due to the condition’s effects on aging, but the company also has other clinical trials that were partly AI-generated2. He added that he had two drugs. One is a COVID-19 drug in Phase 1 clinical trials, and the other is a cancer drug, specifically a USP1 inhibitor for the treatment of solid tumors, which was recently approved by the FDA to initiate clinical trials. drug.
“When this company was founded, we were focused on developing algorithms, technologies that could discover and design new molecules,” Zaboronkov said. “In the early days, I never imagined that I would bring an AI drug I developed into clinical trials with patients. Instead, bring our technology to clinical trials to prove it works.”
The current study of the IPF drug is a 12-week randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled trial in China, with Insilico plans to expand the trial to 60 people at 40 sites in the United States and China. there is If the current Phase 2 study is successful, it could lead to another study in a larger cohort, then a Phase 3 study with hundreds of participants.
“We expect to have results from the current phase II trial next year,” Zaboronkov said, noting that the disease is relatively rare and patients must meet certain criteria. It is difficult to predict the exact timing of future phase 2 trials, he added. He added, “We are optimistic that within the next few years, this drug will be ready for market and reach patients who may benefit from it.”
