WuXi AppTec Content Team Editor
Recently, Forbes released its annual AI 50 list, jointly launched by Forbes and Sequoia Capital, which features the most effective and unique among North American private companies. 50 startups leveraging artificial intelligence (AI) technology. The Forbes article pointed out that AI has been integrated into our lives in many ways, and by 2024, the investment in AI research and application will reach 500 billion US dollars. In the field of biomedicine, AI is also emerging at multiple stages of medical image analysis and new drug development. In today’s article, the WuXi AppTec content team will introduce readers to the six biotech and pharmaceutical companies on the list. Click “Read more/Read more” at the end of the article to visit Forbes’ official website to browse the list of all the companies on the list.
Brightseed
Plants contain many biologically active compounds whose interactions with the human body can have important effects on human health. For example, the antioxidants in blueberries, the caffeine in tea, the artemisinin in the treatment of malaria, and the active ingredients in aspirin also come from plants.
Brightsee’s goal is to dig deep into the biologically active compounds found in nature’s plants and understand how they interact with the human body. The company uses AI-based software systems to explore connections between plants and human health, discovering bioactive compounds that may improve human health. To date, the company has discovered more than 1 million plant compounds, more than 10 times the number previously known. The company discovered a plant bioactive compound that supports the liver’s normal fat metabolism pathway, leading to more liver fat removal and helping maintain metabolic health. This investigational therapy is currently in preclinical development.
Deepcell
Deepcell’s technology platform can accurately discover and isolate single cells based on cell morphology without the use of staining or cell labeling. This technique preserves the viability of cells for further research. The company’s AI-driven imaging and microfluidic technology platform can discover virtually any cell type as the foundation for translational research, diagnostic assays and therapeutic development.
Unique technology based on microfluidics, utilizing continuously learning AI, can classify cells based on detailed visual features without inherent bias. The sensitivity of this system can even find 1 rare cell in 1 billion cells. This year the company closed a $73 million Series B round.
Entos
Entos’ artificial intelligence platform combines algorithms that predict the characteristics of drug candidates and robotic-assisted automated labs to rapidly synthesize and optimize small-molecule anti-cancer therapies. The company focuses on developing new medicines for diseases with urgent unmet needs, including advanced breast and lung cancer. The company closed a $53 million Series A round last year.
Generate Biomedicines
Generate Biomedicines was founded by Flagship Pioneering, a well-known healthcare investment firm. The company’s machine learning system analyzes hundreds of millions of known proteins to discover statistical patterns linking amino acid sequences to protein structure and function. Based on these statistical laws, machine learning systems can generate customized protein therapeutics, which can be simple polypeptides or complex antibody, protease, or other protein therapeutics.
This technology allows drug developersto develop protein drugs for specific targets without relying on trial-and-error high-throughput screening. It provides a strategy for rationally designing and testing innovative candidate therapies in response to therapeutic needs. The company has demonstrated that this AI system can target more than a dozen targets to generate better alternative antibodies and peptides to existing therapies. In January, the company struck a $1.9 billion R&D collaboration with Amgen that will use its platform to develop protein therapeutics against five clinical targets.
Genesis Therapeutics
Genesis Therapeutics was founded with the backing of renowned Silicon Valley venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, among others. The company’s co-founders, Dr. Evan Feinberg and Mr. Ben Sklaroff, were named to Forbes’ health care list last year.
The company’s technology platform, called PotentialNet, has the ability to unlock the 3D structural dynamics of protein-ligand complexes. Therefore, it is still highly accurate in predicting compound potency and selectivity even against previously difficult-to-drug protein targets.
To target the most challenging protein targets, the company combines predictive machine learning-based models with a molecular simulation platform, based on decades of expertise in molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics research, developed a new molecular simulation system.
Earlier this month, the company partnered with Eli Lilly and Company to leverage its AI drug discovery platform to discover innovative treatments for up to five targets across a wide range of treatments field.
Verge Genomics
Many investigational therapies that show promise in animal models fail to achieve the expected success in human clinical trials, partly because animal models sometimes fail to reflect the complexity of human disease sex. The strategy of WiseGen is to provide and innovate disease causal mechanisms in a patient population segmented according to genetic characteristics by using AI-based unbiased algorithms based on the datasets of the brain transcriptomes of patients with various neurodegenerative diseases. relevant insights to discover therapeutic targets for complex diseases.