AI is being used everywhere, including in drug discovery. There are many things AI drug discovery technology can do to further advance treatments for various diseases, but there are some things that AI cannot do. Understanding the applicability of AI predictions is essential. Without that understanding, it is easy to believe that AI alone can solve any problem autonomously when, in fact, researchers are also essential to the process. AI drug discovery is vital to the future of the pharmaceutical and healthcare industries.

Too much of it kills you." A new report by Data Bridge Market Research analyses the global Artificial Intelligence (AI) in drug discovery market and forecasts that is expected to reach the value of USD 24,618.25 million by 2029, at a CAGR of 53.3% during the forecast period. The start of the world's first Phase 1 clinical trial of a drug developed from scratch using AI was announced by Insilico Medicine. "At the core of this issue is the complexity of human biology. After decades of molecular biology research, we're lucky if we know 5% of the circuitry of human disease." Just to give you a perspective, this is just the 5% of a simplified view of the brain's circuitry (for more about AI neuroscience news): Owkin's CEO Dr. T Clozel (his parents were the founders of Switzerland's Actelion), is intent on using AI to usher in a new era of drug development, by accessing data at scale with federated learning to preserve patient privacy and data security, and by creating an interpretable AI to answer a broad range of research questions. Last September rapid diagnostic solutions for breast and colorectal cancer from Owkin have been granted approval for use, while this month Sanofi's chief dealmaker (Alban de La Sablière) heads to Owkin as CBO, and all these after Owkin secured $80 million from Bristol Myers Squibb last year and a total raised to over $300 million. The Chicago-based Tempus (@TempusLabs), that specialises in AI and precision medicine and has one of the world's largest libraries of clinical and molecular data, announced this week it raised $275 million through equity from previous investors and debt financing from Ares Management (so far the company has raised over $1.3 billion). And also this month GSK announced that expanded its collaboration with Tempus to improve clinical trial design, speed up enrolment and identify drug targets. "This collaboration will provide GSK with unique insights to discover better medicines and transform drug discovery.

Alphabet subsidiary and precision health company Verily recently announced a breakthrough in its AI drug discovery GPCR research collaboration with Sosei Heptares. A mere six months ago Verily launched the study with Sosei Heptares – a global leader in GPCR structure-based drug design – with an aim to "prioritise protein targets for therapeutic targeting in immune-mediated disease". Now, Verily has announced that early results from its "next generation immune mapping technology" Immune Profiler platform have already identified "more effective therapeutic options against G protein-coupled receptors (GPCR) in autoimmune and other immune-mediated diseases". The companies hope that in the year to come those data targets will be entered for validation, hit generation, and lead selection. With approximately one third of all current FDA-approved drugs targeting GPCRs, Verily/Sosei Heptares are looking to expedite GPCR research within not only immunology, but also gastroenterology and immuno-oncology as well, and the latest data bodes well for future development of therapeutic options in these areas.

Atomwise, which is using artificial intelligence for small molecule drug discovery, received a cash infusion of $123 million in an oversubscribed Series B financing. San Francisco-based Atomwise touts being the creator of the first convolutional neural networks, or visual imagery, using AI technology for drug discovery, a market estimated to reach $40 billion in value by 2027, according to Fior Markets research. To date, Atomwise has provided AI technology to more than 750 academic research collaborations addressing over 600 disease targets, Abraham Heifets, co-founder and CEO told Crunchbase News. B Capital Group and Sanabil Investments led the investment that also included existing investors DCVC, BV, Tencent, Y Combinator, Dolby Ventures, AME Cloud Ventures, as well as two undisclosed insurance companies. This brings the total amount of capital raised, since Atomwise's inception in 2012, to almost $175 million.

Finding new medicines is like finding a needle in a haystack. By linking a powerful computational ... [ ] approach to advances in chemical manufacturing, this company is making piles of needles. Finding new drugs is hard. Sometimes we don't even know how a disease works, and drug tests in animals don't always go the same as in humans. Drugs can even behave very differently from person to person.

Atomwise Inc. ("Atomwise"), the leader in artificial intelligence (AI) for drug discovery, today announced a collaboration with Hansoh Pharmaceutical Group Company Limited ("Hansoh Pharma"), a leading biopharmaceutical company in China, to design and discover potential drug candidates for up to eleven undisclosed target proteins in multiple therapeutic areas. "There is exciting science happening throughout Asia, and enormous potential for leadership in innovative drug discovery," said Dr. Abraham Heifets, CEO of Atomwise. "I am delighted to announce that Hansoh Pharma is our first partner in Asia. Hansoh Pharma is committed to innovation and shares our mission for global impact on patient health," he added. Scientific teams from Atomwise and Hansoh Pharma will collaborate closely on the programs.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is continuing to make waves in the life sciences industry, with today's announcement that a drug-discovery company called Verge Genomics has landed $32 million in Series A financing. Based in San Francisco, Verge Genomics uses machine learning and sprawling data sets to identify new therapeutics for neurological diseases. Since its founding in 2015, the startup has nurtured "lead therapeutic programs" and built proprietary genomic data sets for Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS). Investors nodded to those advances and Verge Genomics' roster of diverse experts when they announced the windfall. Read: Which Health-Tech Startups Are Making Money in 2018?