5 Innovative AI Drug Development Startups to Watch in 2024
Startups are leveraging artificial intelligence to create an innovative platform replicating the human immune system on a petri dish. This groundbreaking approach aims to accelerate drug development and facilitate safer clinical trials.
Traditionally, the drug development process has been plagued by complexities, high costs, and uncertainties surrounding a drug’s potential for success. Particularly in nervous system disorders, the unknown pathophysiology makes identifying suitable targets a daunting challenge. Moreover, animal models used for drug testing often fail to replicate the entirety of a human disorder or disease accurately, and their responses to drugs may differ from those of the human body.
However, AI is paving the way for faster, more cost-effective pharmaceutical solutions. These AI models can identify intricate patterns and relationships within data that are difficult for humans to discern, enabling more precise and targeted drug development.
By combining AI with their expertise, startups are developing platforms offering deeper insights into human physiology, enhancing our understanding and facilitating more informed drug development processes.
This article explores five innovative startups that use AI technology to enhance drug development in 2024.
1. Galixir uses specialized AI for faster drug discovery
| Founding Year | 2019 |
| Headquarters | Beijing, China |
| Total Funding Amount | $10M |
| Last Funding Round/Amount | Series A |
| Website | galixir.com |
Galixir leverages artificial intelligence to accelerate drug research and development. It focuses on hard-to-develop drugs and unmet clinical needs.
They’ve developed two main products: Pyxir® and M13.
Pyxir®, its drug discovery platform, provides end-to-end solutions in preclinical drug discovery by blending advanced AI technologies and domain knowledge from computational chemistry, medicinal chemistry, and biology.
M1, the AI-driven intelligent computing platform, is independently developed by Galixir for drug discovery. It combines AI with classical physics principles to make breakthroughs in classical molecular modeling methods and accurately describes the interaction between molecules and proteins.
The startup has also developed the world’s first deep learning framework, TankBind, that simultaneously predicts both small-molecule drug binding conformation and binding affinity.
The CEO, Chengtao Li, holds a Ph.D. and a Master’s in Computer Science from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). Before Galixir, he worked as a Research Assistant at MIT and had internships at Microsoft Research.
Galixir has raised a total of $10M in funding. Their latest funding was raised from a Series A round on Dec 29, 2020.
2. Model Medicines develops anti-viral drugs using AI
| Founding Year | 2019 |
| Headquarters | California, United States |
| Total Funding Amount | $4.1M |
| Last Funding Round/Amount | Early Stage VC, $950K |
| Website | modelmedicines.com |
Model Medicines is an AI-driven human health company that uses AI to model chemistry and human biology to accelerate the creation of life-changing drugs. Founded in 2019, the startup has developed a product called GALILEO™, which has discovered 192 compounds for 26 targets. Their lead asset is a pan-antiviral candidate, MDL-001, whose antiviral activity was discovered by Model Medicines’ GALILEO™ Platform.
The CEO, Daniel Haders II, has 20+ years of experience in healthcare as a scientist and entrepreneur. Before Model Medicines, Daniel launched the Nex Cubed Digital Health Accelerator, which was recognized among the top ten global digital health accelerators.
Model Medicines has raised a total of $4.1M in funding. This was a Seed round raised on Feb 1, 2021.
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3. Parallel Bio puts the human immune system on a dish!
| Founding Year | 2020 |
| Headquarters | Massachusetts, United States |
| Total Funding Amount | $4.6M |
| Last Funding Round/Amount | Seed, $4.3M |
| Website | www.parallel.bio |
Parallel Bio develops human immune system component models to accelerate the discovery and development of immunotherapies, cell therapies, antibody therapies, and vaccines.
Its platform combines human immune organoids with computational methods to generate insights into health and diseases.
The platform replicates the human immune system in a dish across populations to discover cures faster. Drugs need no longer be tested on mice. This system enables the discovery and creation of drugs that successfully work on patients. Additionally, it gives insights into how well they perform across an entire population.
The CEO, Robert M. DiFazio, is a Stanford graduate with a Ph.D. in Immunology of Infectious Diseases from the University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine.
Parallel Bio has raised a total of $4.6M in funding. Their latest funding was raised from a Seed round on Dec 20, 2022.
4. Arpeggio Bio uses AI to predict the toxicity of a drug to patients
| Founding Year | 2017 |
| Headquarters | Colorado, United States |
| Total Funding Amount | $20.4M |
| Last Funding Round/Amount | Series A, $17M |
| Website | www.arpeggiobio.com |
Arpeggio Bio uses machine learning and RNA to make drugs. The company’s solution uses AI to interpret RNA time series data for signaling pathway reconstruction.
They have built the world’s largest database of nascent RNA sequences. This database guides drug development by predicting whether a molecule will be toxic or beneficial to a patient.
Arpeggio Bio’s technology enables rapid, high-resolution snapshots of cellular dynamics following drug treatment. These snapshots are then analyzed to reveal the biological networks that determine a drug’s function and guide therapeutic development.
The Founder & CEO, Joey Azofeifa, has almost a decade of experience as a data scientist, working with biologists to tackle complex drug development challenges.
Arpeggio Bio is a Y Combinator company and has raised over 20M in venture funding from groups like Builders VC and Khosla Ventures.
5. Nabla Bio uses AI to create new antibody drugs
| Founding Year | 2020 |
| Headquarters | Greater Denver Area, Western US |
| Total Funding Amount | $11.3M |
| Last Funding Round/Amount | Seed, $11M |
| Website | www.nabla.bio |
Nabla Bio uses artificial intelligence to design and refine next-generation therapeutic antibodies.
Its platform, Autoverse, enables the rapid discovery of previously unattainable protein variants. The platform combines high-end protein language modeling, a branch of AI-driven protein modeling that the CEO co-founded, with a high-throughput multiplex antibody analysis technology.
The platform’s ultimate goal is to create new antibody drugs specifically engineered to address challenging clinical targets and be commercially viable.
Surge Biswas, Ph. D., the CEO, is a scientist with 10+ years of experience using synthetic biology and machine learning to engineer microbiomes and proteins.
Nabla Bio has raised a total of $11.3M in funding. Their latest funding was from a seed round on December 6, 2021.
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Author: Hemanth Shenoy, Market Research
Next Read: Top 10 Startups Leading in Drug Discovery using AI
