Fight Aging!

Insilico Medicine works on cost reduction and acceleration of existing small molecule drug discovery approaches via machine learning and other forms of automation. While starting out as an aging-focused company, their primary goal at this stage, steered by their investors, is to sell the software platforms they produce to the pharmaceutical industry. Their in-house drug development programs serve as marketing for this goal. Those they chose to publicize are somewhat senotherapeutic in nature at the present time, focused on clearance or suppression of senescent cells to treat fibrosis. A range of evidence suggests that senescent cells are largely responsible for the malfunctions of normal tissue maintenance and regeneration that cause fibrosis, the inappropriate deposition of scar-like structures in many aged organs that harm tissue function. Since there are no good therapies to address fibrosis at this time, a number of ongoing senotherapeutic programs in industry and academia target one or more fibrotic diseases in order to maximize the chances of regulatory approval and thus commercial success.

Insilico Medicine, a global company specializing in the applications of the next-generation machine learning technologies for drug discovery and development, announced today that its AI-powered drug discovery platform had delivered a preclinical candidate for kidney fibrosis. Chronic kidney disease affects 10 percent of the world's population, and, unfortunately, it has no cures or efficacious drugs on the market. Kidney fibrosis is the common pathogenesis in the progression of chronic kidney disease ("CKD") and is a major unmet medical need. Approximately 850 million people worldwide have kidney disease often being driven by or associated with kidney fibrosis. We are very excited to see that our AI-powered drug discovery engine has managed to uncover novel targets and novel molecules that have demonstrated preclinical efficacy in kidney fibrosis"

Insilico Medicine achieved a great breakthrough in February 2021 when it announced that its AI system identified a novel drug target and novel compound to treat idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, which is another fibrotic disease affecting patients worldwide with high unmet medical needs. What also made the discovery noteworthy was that this was achieved within 18 months and a $2.6 million budget. Repeating that success, Insilico Medicine leveraged its platforms to develop the target hypothesis for kidney fibrosis and generate compounds with drug-like properties. The compound that markedly inhibited the development of fibrosis and significantly improved myofibroblast activation are critical for tissue repair and wound healing. Insilico Medicine plans to complete the IND-enabling studies for this program in 2022.

Link: https://www.eurekalert.org/news-releases/924480