Can a supercomputer develop drugs faster that can improve your help?

GSK is among a growing number of drug firms seeking to find out.

GlaxoSmithKline sees the potential of using artificial intelligence to boost drug development. And its latest investment in a startup reflects that commitment.

“It’s still to be proven, but we definitely think we should do the experiment,” John Baldoni, GSK’s head of platform technology and science, told the Reuters news service.

“Exscientia has built an excellent team with proven innovation in drug discovery technologies,” he added in the announcement, which was made Sunday.. “We anticipate that their industry-leading approach will accelerate the discovery of new molecules against high value GSK targets with speed and confidence,and without compromising quality.” 

GSK, which maintains a large R&D operation in RTP and a drug production plant in Zebulon, disclosed a $43 million investment in Exscientia, which is based in GSK. Led by a former Pfizer executive, the company is also backed by GSK rival Sanofi.

“This agreement with GSK is the second we have signed in recent months with a top global pharma company. The alliance provides further validation of our AI-driven platform and its potential to accelerate the discovery of novel, high-quality drug candidates,” said Andrew Hopkins, CEO of Exscientia.

“Applying our approach to client discovery projects has already delivered candidate-quality molecules in roughly one-quarter of the time, and at one-quarter of the cost of traditional approaches. Our intention therefore is to apply these capabilities to projects selected by GSK. Delivering efficiencies to drug discovery has the potential to revolutionise the way early projects are executed, enabling more dynamic target selections from the burgeoning set of opportunities. We look forward to a productive collaboration with GSK.” 

Other drug giants are also exploring AI as a means of speeding up drug development while reducing costs.

“That is a stretch. But as we’ve learnt more about what modern supercomputers can do, we’ve gained more confidence,” Baldoni explained. “We have an obligation to reduce the cost of drugs and reduce the time it takes to get medicines to patients.”


Profile: All about Exscientia

At the forefront of small molecule drug discovery We are the first company to automate drug design, surpassing conventional human endeavor. Our AI driven systems actively learn best practice from vast repositories of discovery data and are further enhanced with knowledge acquired from seasoned drug hunters.

With better information to hand than any researcher could acquire individually, our knowledge-driven systems design millions of novel, project-specific compounds and pre-assess each for predicted potency, selectivity, ADME and other key criteria. From this, a selection of the best, information-rich compounds are selected for synthesis and assay. With new experimental data generated, the results are integrated and the next design cycle initiated.

Rapid design-make-test cycles ensure unparalleled progress towards desired project goals. Exscientia has already delivered exceptional productivity, generating candidates in roughly one-quarter of the time of traditional approaches.

Website:

http://www.exscientia.co.uk

Headquarters:

Dundee, Scotland

Year founded:

2012

Company type:

Privately Held

Company size:

11-50 employees

Specialties:

Drug design, bispecific drugs, polypharmacology, data driven drug design, small molecules, AI, and Artificial Intelligence

Source: Exscientia