Artificial intelligence plays an increasing role in the discovery of new drugs. Which start-ups specializing in biotechnology have raised funds? For which therapeutic specialties or types of molecules? Which pharmaceutical laboratories support them? In partnership with Amandeep Singh, project manager at MP Advisors, mind Health has identified and analyzed the main announcements in the field in 2023.

hile the search for new drugs is a long and expensive process, subject to high uncertainty, technology is playing an increasing role. Artificial intelligence (AI), in particular, has become a vector for acceleration and optimization in the early phases of drug discovery . For example, it makes it possible to more quickly test researchers’ hypotheses in areas as varied as the prediction of molecular structures and the exploration of the characteristics specific to each drug candidate.

Many start-ups specializing in biotechnology have positioned themselves in this area. They need significant funds and the support of technological partners or pharmaceutical laboratories to develop and advance drug pipelines. In 2023, numerous financings and strategic partnerships have caught the attention of analysts. What were the major initiatives in the use of artificial intelligence for drug discovery that year? And what major trends can we deduce from these announcements?

In January 2024, Amandeep Singh, project manager at MP Advisors, a consulting firm specializing in the pharmaceutical and biotech industry, published a list of initiatives regarding the use of AI for drug discovery announced in 2023. With his agreement, we have enriched it and qualified more precisely some of the companies and operations mentioned there (see methodology).

This is how we identified 145 initiatives between January 1 and December 31 of last year, or a dozen per month, in eight different categories, including 65 partnerships, 42 financings and 14 new products.

This article is originally published by Mind Health