Europe is accelerating AI drug discovery as DeepMind spin-off plans trials this yr

Google-DeepMind spin-off Isomorphic Labs expects to begin testing its first AI-developed drugs later this year, as tech startups race to turn algorithmic magic into actual treatments.

“We will hopefully have some AI-developed drugs in clinical trials by the end of the year,” the company's Nobel Prize-winning CEO Demis Hassabis told a panel at the World Economic Forum in Davos this week. “That’s the plan.”

The potential of AI-supported drug research is enormous. Instead of spending years or even decades manually testing chemicals, machine learning algorithms can sift through mountains of data to recognize patterns and predict which molecules might make the next miracle drug. This could lead to faster drug development, lower costs and new cures.

At one treasureThere are currently over 460 AI startups working on drug discovery over a quarter come from Europe. More than $60 billion has been invested in this area globally so far, and the flood of funding shows no signs of slowing down subside.

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But the discovery of the drugs is only one step in this process. Only when big pharma decides it's worth making, marketing and distributing will it make a real difference to people like you and me.

This makes some of the recent contacts between pharmaceutical giants and AI startups particularly exciting.

Last year, Isomorphic Labs has deposited an amount of $45 million act with Eli Lilly to collaborate on AI-based research on small molecule therapeutics. As part of the agreement, Isomorphic is also eligible to receive up to $1.7 billion in “performance-based milestones.” The company also signed a similar one Cooperation with the Swiss biotech company Novartis.

“We are already working on real drug programs,” Hassabis said in an interview with Bloomberg Television interview shortly after the announcements. “I would expect that in the next few years the first AI-developed drugs will be available in the clinic.”

Exscientia, which emerged from Dundee University in 2012, was among the first companies to use AI in drug discovery. In 2024, the company introduced its first AI-developed drug candidate into human clinical trials, reaching this milestone in just 12 months – a process that typically takes about five years. US rival Recursion taken over the Oxford-based company in November for $688 million.

These are two big examples of an AI-driven drug discovery market that is booming and increasingly consolidating. However, there are also many young companies working on niche applications of the technology. These include CardiaTec, based in Cambridge, UK, which uses AI to find new drugs Treat heart diseaseand has its headquarters in London Multiomic Health is working on formulas to treat metabolic diseases.

However, despite all its potential, AI is not a panacea for drug development. While it can dramatically speed up the search for the right compounds to make new drugs, the most time-consuming steps—like wet-lab testing on physical samples, clinical trials, and FDA approvals—go nowhere. Still, the true power of AI lies in this crucial first phase: It targets targets that might otherwise have slipped through the cracks, saving researchers time and potentially even unlocking new treatments.

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