Insilico Medicine receives US$110 million in financing to accelerate AI drug development and robotics laboratory innovation

Insilico Medicine recently announced the completion of a US$110 million Series E financing, led by Hong Kong company Value Partners, and received support from original investors and new investors. The funding will be used to refine the company’s AI model and support key clinical trials of its major drug candidates in the field of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.

The company's small molecule inhibitor ISM001-055 was recently officially named rentosertib by the US New Drug Naming Committee, marking another important milestone in this research compound that discovers structural and biological targets by generating AI. Late last year, rentosertib showed positive performance in a placebo-controlled phase 2a clinical trial involving 71 Chinese patients, showing that patients' lung capacity increased with dose increase after three months, and the quality of life scores evaluated by the Chronic Cough Scale also improved.

Meanwhile, Insilico has begun injecting ISM6331 into the first patients in China and the United States, a wholly owned molecular drug for mesothelioma and other solid tumors.

"The fundraising will accelerate the development of our drug development line and AI platform and further consolidate Insilico's leadership in this rapidly growing field. We will continue to work to extend people's lifespan and be proud to be at the forefront of medical innovation."

Last month, Insilico released its internal timetable for 22 AI-designed drug projects, demonstrating the entire process from target recognition to preclinical preparation for human research. To date, the company has relied on AI programs and robotics labs to synthesize and test potential drug-like molecules at an average rate of 13 months, with 10 assets approved by the FDA for human research.

In terms of laboratory automation, Insilico this month launched its first humanoid lab robot prototype called "Supervisor", a bipedal robot that will learn the skills of scientists. Zhavoronkov said the company's goal is to develop powerful humanoid robot systems for pharmaceuticals, carbon capture and sustainable research, which will work with human scientists to perform daily tasks such as pipetting, using reagents and operating laboratory equipment.