AI Photo: VCG

A Chinese company on Tuesday announced the advancement of the world's first small molecule drug candidate developed by generative artificial intelligence (AI), which has now progressed to Phase 2 clinical trials and been administered to the first patient. The move marked the world's first small molecule drug designed by AI that has entered the clinical stage, opening up a vast market potential. 

Insilico Medicine, a Shanghai-based company, revealed INS018_055 on Tuesday, a treatment of idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis (IPF), a chronic progressive and irreversible lung disease. 

The drug was selected and designed using generative AI, which goes beyond simple data analysis and involves learning and deduction based on existing data. 

During the clinical trial, researchers aim to evaluate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and preliminary efficacy of INS018_055 after 12 weeks of oral administration in IPF patients.

Compared to a traditional pharmaceutical approach, AI technology greatly accelerates the research and development efficiency. "AI pharmaceuticals can encompass all possible diseases and targets based on a keyword, then proceed with individual identification and diagnosis, and finally select the most valuable parts," Xu Zuojun, the leading principal investigator of the INS018_055 and chief physician of the department of respiratory and critical care medicine at Peking Union Medical College Hospital, explained. 

In the future, AI pharmaceuticals represent vast market space. According to BCC Research, the market size for AI-driven drug development is projected to reach $3.117 billion by 2024, with a compound annual growth rate of 40.7 percent. 

However, some believed there exists a bubble within the AI pharma industry. The market value of some US AI pharma companies has tumbled by over 90 percent to less than $100 million since 2022, despite 77 AI pharma financing events in 2020. To date, no AI-developed drug has been successfully launched globally.

Global Times