A few days ago, Meta Pharmaceuticals, a Shenzhen-based biotech start-up, secured $15 million in funding for manufacture drugs for autoimmune diseases thanks to artificial intelligence.
Making drugs with artificial intelligence
Investors are not lacking in interest in companies that use artificial intelligence to discover and manufacture small molecule drugs. Earlier this year, New York-based company Immunai raised $215 million to create an “atlas” of the human immune system. Insilico, another Hong Kong-based company, also secured $60 million in funding. With these 15 million dollars, Meta Pharmaceuticals will develop temerging technologies in the field of immuno-metabolism.
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This field of application is recent. It aims to study the relationship between the historically distinct disciplines of immunology and metabolism. Drugs created using this new method are supposed to regulate the immune system more effectively and with fewer side effects. Hailing from southwest China, Xu Ke, co-founder and CEO of Meta Pharmaceuticals, previously conducted research at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center, one of the top cancer treatment hospitals in the United States.
Meta Pharmaceuticals: a promising company
This young shoot is only 10 months old, but it seems to be very ambitious. In fact, Meta Pharmaceuticals is a project incubated by Xtalpi, a Chinese company founded in 2014 that has raised nearly $800 million from Tencent, Softbank Vision Fund and Sequoia Capital China. Meta Pharmaceuticals and Xtalpi are complementary: XtalPi is in charge of drug discovery. Once a “pre-clinical candidate” is identified, Meta Pharmaceuticals can take over to carry out development through artificial intelligence and clinical trials.
According to Xu Ke, “Our technology has the potential to be used to treat a wide range of autoimmune diseases, cancers and age-associated degenerative diseases. It is still too early to share more details but we plan to market our drugs worldwide within a few years.”. The company is located in a free trade zone dedicated to innovation in Shenzhen. A nurturing environment and one of many government initiatives to promote technology collaboration between businesses in Shenzhen and those on Hong Kong Island.