image: The first drug-candidate compounds targeting age-related diseases discovered using AI are licensed for development. view more
Credit: Insilico Medicine
Jan.6, 2018, Baltimore, Maryland- Insilico Medicine, Inc. ("Insilico"), a Baltimore-based next-generation artificial intelligence (AI) company specializing in the application of deep learning for drug discovery, announces that Juvenescence.AI, its joint venture with Juvenescence Limited ("Juvenescence"), has licensed its first compound family for clinical development. This is one of five compound families that Juvenescence.AI is able to license each year under its license agreement with Insilico.
"The selection of our first compound family is a landmark event for Juvenescence, and a broader comment on the potential of AI to transform the drug discovery and development industry" commented Jim Mellon, Chairman of Juvenescence.
This deal is a result of a deep collaboration between the senior drug developers at Juvenescence and AI experts at Insilico and signifies a new era in drug discovery where highly sophisticated AI finds viable drug candidates. In less than six months the teams have identified a valuable molecular target for a specific age-associated disease area, and are now working to identify other promising molecules for a variety of targets and perform validation.
Dr Greg Bailey, CEO of Juvenescence said: "This has been a very exciting time for the team of drug developers at Juvenescence as we work with Insilico to change how drug are discovered. This constitutes more validation of Insilico's ability to find novel drugs. It is also speaking to the quality of the relationship between our two companies both focused on changing how mankind ages."
JAI-001 and its analogues, have demonstrated in vitro activity in assays directly relevant to aging and age-related diseases.
"The team at Insilico Medicine is very excited to be working with Juvenescence. As a company, it has centuries of drug discovery and development experience, and has provided our team with valuable guidance. We are very happy to see that some of the top pharmaceutical industry executives are now focusing their efforts on aging and artificial intelligence", said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, Founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine, Inc.
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About Insilico Medicine, Inc. Insilico Medicine, Inc. is an artificial intelligence company located at the Emerging Technology Centers at the Johns Hopkins University Eastern campus in Baltimore, with R&D resources in Belgium, Russia, and the UK sourced through hackathons and competitions. The company utilizes advances in genomics, big data analysis, and deep learning for in silico drug discovery and drug repurposing for ageing and age-related diseases. The company is pursuing internal drug discovery programs in cancer, Parkinson's Disease, Alzheimer's Disease, ALS, diabetes, sarcopenia, and ageing. Through its Pharma.AI division, Insilico provides advanced machine learning services to biotechnology, pharmaceutical, and skin care companies, foundations and national governments globally. In 2017, NVIDIA selected Insilico Medicine as one of its Top 5 AI companies in its potential for social impact. Website: http://www.insilico.com
About Juvenescence Limited Juvenescence Limited is a biotech company focused on therapies to increase healthy human longevity. It was founded in 2017 by Jim Mellon, Dr. Greg Bailey, Dr. Declan Doogan, Anthony Chow, and Alexander Pickett. The Juvenescence team are highly experienced drug developers, and serial entrepreneurs with a track record of success in life sciences and drug development. Juvenescence is focussed on developing therapeutics that alter ageing or age-related diseases.
Juvenescence believes that recent advances in science have greatly improved our understanding of the biology of ageing and creates the opportunity to develop therapeutics now that can slow, halt or potentially reverse elements of ageing.
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Contact:
Qingsong Zhu, PhD
zhu@pharma.ai