Rare disease drug firm Healx founded by Viagra creator raises $56m

A rare disease drugs firm co-founded by the discoverer of Viagra has raised $56m (£44m) to use artificial intelligence for finding new medicines. Healx uses AI to examine potential beneficial side effects of existing treatments which could also treat rare ailments. The firm was co-founded in 2014 by David Brown, who discovered Viagra in the 1990s as a side effect of medicine for high blood pressure. It started as a project at the University of Cambridge. Dr Brown said: "We're taking safe drugs that are already optimised, provided the potency is good enough, we can go straight to the clinic."