Avicenna Biosciences Inc. has introduced an extension to its machine learning (ML) technology platform to enhance medicinal chemistry and expedite clinical-stage drug discovery.

In one of the biggest startups ever, Xaira Therapeutics has launched with more than $1 billion from investors. The financing, according to BioWorld records, is roughly equivalent to Roivant Sciences Inc.’s $1.1 billion raise in August 2017 and Galderma Inc.’s $1 billion private placement in June 2023. Xaira said it plans to leverage advanced machine learning research and expansive data generation to power new models for developing new therapeutics.

A computational program based on single-cell transcriptome sequencing has identified six types of senescent cells, enabling the design of more precise senolytic drugs. The success of these compounds depends on their ability to recognize senescent cellular patterns and avoid proliferating cells, differentiated cells, or quiescent (temporarily resting) cells.

Deep learning algorithms have enabled the discovery of molecular structures of interest in biomedicine to design treatments against aggressive diseases such as idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF). Scientists at Insilico Medicine Inc. selected a target for IPF using artificial intelligence (AI), then designed an inhibitor to block it, and tested it in vitro, in vivo, and in clinical trials.

Zapata Computing Inc. (Zapata AI) scientists have demonstrated the first instance of a generative model running on quantum hardware outperforming state-of-the-art classical models in generating viable cancer drug candidates.

Halia Therapeutics Inc. and Canary Speech Inc. have established a collaboration in Alzheimer’s disease.

Syntheticgestalt Ltd. and Enamine Ltd. have begun a joint effort to create a suite of artificial intelligence (AI) models that will enable the generation of synthetically accessible biologically active compounds with optimized physicochemical and ADME/Tox properties.

Researchers have reported that the predictive abilities of a machine learning algorithm trained using best practices on a large clinical dataset did not generalize beyond the data that was used to train it. The algorithm was able to predict, to a degree, which individual patients would benefit from the medication when the patients were from the dataset the algorithm was trained on. But when it was supposed to predict who would benefit in clinical cohorts that were not part of the training, it performed no better than chance.

The field of peptides is exploding, Perpetual Medicines Corp. co-founder, chairman and CEO Kerry L. Blanchard recently told BioWorld, “with a projected growth rate far surpassing large and small molecules, and gene therapies. The area is underinvested, too, so this is a good opportunity to focus on peptide therapeutics.” Blanchard, who was most recently CEO of Shanghai-based Everest Medicines Ltd. and previous chief scientific officer (CSO) of China’s Innovent Biologics Co. Ltd., is now spearheading efforts to develop novel peptide therapeutics at his own biotech, Perpetual, founded in March 2023.