A biotech firm based in Boston. In 2019 it became the first company to apply transformer-based AI to drug discovery. Its researchers trained an AI on datasets related to idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a lung disease, and found a promising target protein. A second AI then suggested molecules that would latch onto this protein and change its behaviour while avoiding excessive toxicity or instability. Human chemists then created and tested the shortlisted molecules.
The resulting drug, rentosertib, completed successful mid-stage clinical trials. The firm says it took 18 months to arrive at a candidate for development, compared with a usual timeline of four and a half years.
Insilico now has a pipeline of more than 40 AI-developed drugs it is assessing for conditions including cancers and diseases of the bowels and kidneys.
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