Startups, Pharma

Verge Genomics raises $32 million in Series A for AI-discovered drugs

San Francisco-based firm, focusing on Parkinson's disease and amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, has raised $36 million to date.

AI, machine learning

A new company joins the growing list of firms using artificial intelligence and machine learning in drug discovery and raising piles of venture capital cash to do it.

Verge Genomics said Monday that it had raised $32 million in a Series A round led by DFJ, with participation from WuXi AppTec’s Corporate Venture Fund, ALS Investment Fund, Agent Capital and OS Fund. To date, the company has raised $36 million in total.

The therapeutic focus of the San Francisco-based company, founded in 2015, is amyotrophic lateral sclerosis and Parkinson’s disease, for which the company will draw from its database of ALS and Parkinson’s patient genomic data, through partnerships with academic and government organizations.

Artificial intelligence and machine learning have become hot buzzwords in drug development as of late, with various companies using the technology to comb through giant data sets and find actionable drug targets.

Last week, Salt Lake City-based Recursion said that the Food and Drug Administration had approved its Investigational New Drug application to start clinical trials of REC-994, a drug that it had discovered through machine learning, in a genetic disease called cerebral cavernous malformation. In an interview, CEO Chris Gibson distinguished the means used to discover REC-994 from AI in that it did not include iterative feedback in which algorithms learn and get better over time. However, Recursion plans to AI and ML to discover 100 drugs by 2025.

Other efforts to develop drugs using AI and ML include a partnership between Swiss drugmaker Novartis and US chip maker Intel to use deep neural networks to drastically cut the time for analyzing microscopic images. Meanwhile, British AI drug startup Exscientia has partnerships with big drugmakers GlaxoSmithKline and Sanofi, while Pfizer has had a deal to use IBM Watson in immuno-oncology for two years.

Photo: ANDRZEJ WOJCICKI, Getty Images

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