In this podcast, we discuss an exciting new collaboration between pharmaceutical majors in the field of AI.
Around the world, ever increasing investments are being made in artificial intelligence, as drugmakers spy an opportunity to drive efficiencies and spur innovation.
One estimate puts the total amount of venture capital funding in AI-led biotech startups at around $2 billion in 2020, an increase of around a quarter from the year before, and more than the previous three years combined.
Governments are getting in on the act too. In the UK, the government recently announced a National AI Strategy, described as a ten-year plan to make Britain a global AI superpower.
Overseen by a new Office for Artificial Intelligence, the strategy will include active engagement with the life sciences sector to promote the use of AI in drug development.
Elsewhere, the Israel Biotech Fund, which seeks to invest in the country’s life sciences sector, has helped establish an innovation alliance, dubbed AION Labs to help spearhead the adoption of these technologies.
The company is working with four major pharmaceutical companies - AstraZeneca, Pfizer, German Merck, and Teva – as well as tech giant Amazon Web Services.
With funding from the Israel Biotech Fund, the group aims to transform the discovery and development of new therapies.
To find out more, we spoke with Mati Gill, chief executive at AION Labs, and Christian Tidona, chief executive of the group’s strategic partner, BioMed X.