Artificial Intelligence, BioPharma

AI drug discovery firm spins out of Stanford research

Another AI drug discovery firm has sprung up in Silicon Valley with seed investors, including Andreessen Horowitz, kicking in $4.1 million.

The crowd of companies tapping artificial intelligence to discover new drugs is continuing to grow.

Among the latest entrants is Genesis Therapeutics, which formally launched recently on the back of $4.1 million in seed funding from some well-known Silicon Valley investors such as Andreessen Horowitz. Based in South San Francisco, it spun out of research conducted by its principal founder, Evan Feinberg, at Stanford University. Feinberg is also Genesis Therapeutics’ CEO.

Like many AI-wielding firms, the startup hopes to speed up the drug-discovery process with an eye on severe and debilitating diseases for which medicine is scarce. The firm plans to partner with pharma companies to bring candidates to market but is not targeting any specific conditions.

“We believe we can efficiently identify solutions for patients with unmet medical needs, as every group of patients – those with common diseases or rare disorders alike – deserve treatment options that meet efficacy standards and improve quality of life,” Feinberg wrote in an email response to questions forwarded by a company spokesperson.

Joining Feinberg in the effort is Ben Sklaroff, a software engineer who formerly led the software team at Markforged, a 3D printing technology company. The firm’s scientific advisory board is headed by Peppi Prasit, co-founder of Inception Sciences and Amira Pharmaceuticals, which was eventually acquired by Bristol-Myers Squibb. He played a role in the discovery and development of Vioxx, Singulair and Arcoxia, according to the Genesis Therapeutics website. The Genesis Therapeutics board of directors is headed by Dr. Leonard Bell, principal founder and former CEO of Alexion Pharmaceuticals, best known for developing the drug Soliris.

The seed funding for Genesis Therapeutics was led by Andreessen Horowitz with participation from Felicis Ventures.

“We chose Genesis as our bet in this nascent space because of our firm‘s conviction in the team’s rigorous science, continued innovation, and incredible track record of its leadership and founding board,” said Dr. Vijay Pande, general partner at Andreessen Horowitz, in a statement. “Between their internal programs and being poised as a unique partner for biopharma companies looking to optimize the outcomes of their pipeline, we are excited to see the impact Genesis will have in patient care over the coming decades.”

In addition to being a venture capitalist, Pande is an adjunct professor of Bioengineering at Stanford University and continues to advise the Pande Lab.

The seed money will be used to expand Genesis Therapeutics’ drug-discovery team, Feinberg wrote, adding that the company is recruiting software engineers, AI engineers and scientists.

“We are also actively exploring partnership opportunities to develop small molecule therapeutics across a range of disease categories,” he wrote.

By one recent count, nearly 170 firms are using AI and/or machine learning to discover new drugs – and they have been attracting investors. Recent examples include X-37, which raised $14.5 million in Series A funding in mid-November. Another, Recursion Pharmaceuticals, raised $121 million in Series C funding this summer. Felicis Ventures is among the investors in Recursion.

So does the world need yet another AI drug discovery company? Feinberg has an answer for that.

“We are currently the only AI-driven biotech backed by both top-tier, peer-reviewed journal publication of our deep learning research, as well as validation of our proprietary technologies by a leading pharma company,” he declared. “We are also presently the only AI-driven biotech that has paired internal, innovative deep learning research with proven drug developers with an extensive collective track record of eleven FDA-approved treatments.”

The initial component of the firm’s proprietary AI platform is called PotentialNet, which Feinberg invented and which is used to predict molecular properties.

The field eventually may winnow as companies do – or do not – live up to their promises to bring new drugs to market.

“In my opinion, before we trust that a new AI system can deliver, the minimum bar should be repeated experimental success in a broad prospective discovery campaign, for targets where no one knows the answer, that cuts across diseases and biology, conducted openly to prevent cherry-picking of data,” Abraham Heifets, co-founder and CEO of Atomwise, wrote in an email. Atomwise is a part-owner of X-37 and actively deploying AI in drug discovery.

Photo: Blue Planet Studio, Getty Images

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