Healx raises $56M to launch 40 rare disease R&D programs

Healx has raised $56 million (€51 million) to launch 40 rare disease programs while taking some of its existing assets into the clinic. The ambitious target is enabled by an AI drug discovery platform that Healx thinks gives it a scalability that has more in common with tech than biotech. David Brown, the former global head of drug discovery at Roche, and Tim Guilliams cofounded Healx in 2014 to use AI to find opportunities to repurpose existing molecules to treat rare diseases. After quietly working on the technology in its early years, Healx raised $10 million last year to build on its early success in identifying a potential treatment for Fragile X syndrome. That money was due to see Healx through to 2020 but Guilliams, who works as CEO, decided to pull the financing forward in light of the success rate of the company's predictions and translations.