How AI is revolutionising drug industry by cutting research time

Insilico Medicine, named one of the world's top 20 artificial intelligence (AI) drug-development companies by Forbes Magazine, will move its headquarters from the United States to Hong Kong in April. The move from Baltimore to Hong Kong Science Park signals the importance the company places on the China market. Founded by Alex Zhavoronkov in 2014, the enterprise uses AI and deep learning – a subset of machine learning that imitates the workings of the human brain in processing data – for drug discovery and ageing research. Zhavoronkov's credentials are impressive: he has a master's degree in biotechnology from Johns Hopkins University in Baltimore, a physics doctorate from Lomonosov Moscow State University, and is an adjunct professor at the Buck Institute for Research on Ageing in California. Zhavoronkov says AI can speed up and reduce costs for drug development which – involving several phases of clinical trials, government approval and licensing – can last more than a decade.