Insilico Medicine

Based in Hong Kong, Insilico Medicine focuses on three areas of drug discovery and development: disease target identification, generation of synthetic biology and novel molecules data, and predicting clinical trial outcomes. 

The company's key focus area is anti-aging interventions; however, there is also a therapeutic focus on areas such as oncology, dermatology, metabolic diseases, neuroscience, and rare diseases. Nearly a quarter of the company’s R&D budget is committed toward aging-related diseases. 

The company collaborates with pharma companies and also has its own pipeline of small molecules targeting many disease areas, which the company aims to license to pharma players later. 

In a landmark achievement, Insilico announced in November 2021 that it initiated its first in-human clinical trial of its lead drug compound ISM001-055 (INS018_055) for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). It is reportedly the first-ever AI-discovered drug to be tested on a human. Two years earlier, the company announced that the compound was discovered by the company’s AI platform in just 46 days compared to the two- to three-year timespan required for traditional drug discoveries. It also completed the entire preclinical stage, from the earliest stages of identifying potential targets, in a record time of 18 months. In February 2023, the candidate became the first to receive an orphan drug designation from the FDA and initiated a global Phase II clinical trial in June 2023. 

Key customers and partnerships

The company entered partnerships with several China- and US-based companies, including Exelixis (September 2023) to develop and commercialize an AI-generated cancer treatment, ISM3091; Fosun Pharma (January 2022) to use AI technology in drug discovery and development; 4B Technologies (August 2021) to develop innovative small-molecule therapies for neurological diseases; Arvinas (August 2021) to demonstrate the potential of combining AI with proteolysis-targeting chimera (PROTACs); Teva Branded Pharmaceutical (June 2021); and APRINOIA Therapeutics (December 2020).

The company also collaborated with big pharma companies Pfizer (January 2020) to utilize Insilico's machine-learning technology and proprietary Pandomics Discovery Platform and Sanofi (November 2022) to develop novel therapeutics across six new targets.

  Funding and financials

Insilico raised USD 60 million in its Series D funding round in June 2022, which saw participation from various global investors, including Warburg Pincus. The funds were earmarked for clinical development and establishing an AI robotic drug discovery laboratory and a fully robotic biological data factory.

The company had also reportedly filed for an IPO in the Hong Kong Stock Exchange in June 2023 to raise USD 200 million. No further details were provided.