(Bloomberg) — Google DeepMind has released a new version of AlphaFold, a landmark protein structure prediction tool, that puts the artificial intelligence software on a path to breakthroughs in biology research and bolstering a business that, according to Google’s head of AI, might be worth it. north of $100 billion.
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The AI system has the potential to revolutionize medicine and create “tremendous business value” for DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs, said Demis Hassabis, CEO of both subsidiaries, in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “I hope to do both with Isomorphic: build a multi-hundred billion dollar company – I think it has that potential – and be incredibly beneficial to society and humanity. » Isomorphic Labs, a unit of Alphabet Inc. created three years ago. a few years ago, was built to commercialize DeepMind’s AI for drug discovery. DeepMind first launched AlphaFold in 2018, with advances in decoding protein shape, a scientific problem often compared to mapping the human genome. Now in its third iteration, AlphaFold can model a range of molecular structures, including DNA and RNA, and predict how they interact with each other.
“To really understand biology, you have to think about the interactions between different biological molecules,” Hassabis said. “And that’s where AlphaFold 3 is a big step forward.”
Hassabis described the update, which was also published in the scientific journal Nature, as “essential to drug discovery” because of its critical insight into the types of chemical compounds used in the design and testing of new drugs, including vaccines. “I would expect, perhaps in the next two years, the first AI-designed drugs in the clinic,” Hassabis added.
AI in medicine is a hot area. This approach is driven by the belief that software algorithms can find and help develop new drugs at significantly lower costs and much faster than the decades it currently takes. The craze has attracted pharmaceutical companies, venture capitalists and tech giants like Nvidia Corp. in a market estimated at $50 billion. Investors have poured more than $18 billion into “AI-driven” biotech companies over the past decade.
But even with more cash and advances in computing, companies working on the technology have yet to see major clinical successes. Some biotech companies specializing in AI drug discovery, such as BenevolentAI and Exscientia Plc, have struggled in the public markets.
In January, Isomorphic Labs announced its first two business partners, Eli Lilly & Co. and Novartis – alliances that the technology company said “could be worth nearly $3 billion” if they succeed over a series of milestones. performance.
Alphabet has already tried to turn its healthcare innovations into new business opportunities, with units such as Verily, a “precision health” platform for managing medical data. But these have so far enjoyed limited commercial success.
Hassabis already said that…
