EnHua Pharmaceuticals and DeepModeling Announce Strategic Collaboration to Advance AI-Driven Small Molecule Drug Discovery in CNS Disorders

　　【Pharmaceutical Network Industry Dynamics】In the wave of biopharmaceutical innovation, the research and development of novel small-molecule drugs remains mainstream. With the support of new technologies, the small-molecule drug market will embrace new opportunities and challenges. The application of AI technology is particularly significant for the development of small-molecule drugs.
 

The author learned that Nhwa Pharmaceutical recently reached a strategic cooperation agreement with DP Technology. Both parties will jointly promote the research and development (R&D) of small molecule innovative drugs in the central nervous system field by Nhwa Pharmaceutical. Meanwhile, the two parties will further explore their cooperative advantages, integrating AI technology with innovative molecular R&D more extensively, to accelerate and broaden the R&D progress and innovative dimensions of drugs in the central nervous system field.
 

DP Technology stated that this collaboration will deeply integrate the computing paradigm based on 'AI + molecular simulation' into actual collaborative R&D projects, jointly creating a 'computational design - experimental validation' R&D model. It is expected to bring more new achievements to accelerate the development of new drugs in the central nervous system field.
 

It is reported that the Hermite drug design platform mentioned in the cooperation between the two parties is precisely the preclinical Computer-Aided Drug Design (CADD) platform rooted in cloud computing launched by DP Technology. The platform can accurately predict protein structures and conformational changes, and efficiently evaluate the binding free energy of proteins and ligands with chemical precision. This will greatly enhance the efficiency of new drug research and development tasks such as protein structure prediction, drug target discovery, new drug molecular design, and experimental design, thereby promoting the overall transformation and upgrading of the pharmaceutical industry.
 

Artificial Intelligence (AI) and biological computing technologies are empowering research in the life sciences field, accelerating the process of new drug development. Industry experts indicate that applying AI technology to the biopharmaceutical field is conducive to building a cross-disciplinary drug discovery platform, which benefits innovation at the source.
 

Nowadays, as the requirements for the drug approval process become increasingly strict and the demands regarding drug side effects grow higher, the speed of new drug development has been somewhat affected. However, the application of AI technology may reduce development time and costs, offering a more promising future for the innovative drug sector. It is reported that an increasing number of investors are now focusing on the AI-driven drug development field.
 

According to relevant data statistics, there were 56 investment activities in the AI drug research and development field in 2021, of which 13 were investments exceeding 100 million US dollars.
 

On December 16, 2021, antibody design company Nabla Bio raised $11 million in seed funding. The company intends to use the funds to accelerate the development of an AI-first protein design platform for the rapid end-to-end engineering of next-generation antibody therapies.
 

On August 9, 2021, Wuhan Zhihua Technology announced the completion of a nearly 15 million US dollar A+ round of financing, led by Source Code Capital, with Sequoia China, Frees Fund, and Hua Fang Capital following up. This round of financing will be mainly used for the construction and improvement of the AI automated synthesis platform as well as professional market promotion.
 

On April 26, 2021, AI-driven new biopharmaceutical company SuoZhi Biomedicine announced the completion of a 50 million RMB angel round of financing. The angel round was led by BioMap, with Viva Biotech participating as an investor. As strategic investors, BioMap and Viva Biotech will support SuoZhi in areas such as AI technology, computing power, underlying multi-dimensional data, protein structure, and new drug research and development.
 

On April 12, 2021, StoneWise announced the completion of its Series B+ and Series B financing rounds, with a total funding amount of 100 million US dollars. The funds will mainly be used to further attract top global talent, consolidate the industrialization achievements of the StoneWise AI platform, accelerate the iterative speed of StoneWise's AI technology innovation, and enhance empowerment efficiency.
 

Drug development is a complex process, and predictive models based on artificial intelligence (AI) are becoming a revolutionary solution to enhance the efficiency and speed of drug design and development, particularly by optimizing the selection of therapeutic targets and drug candidates. Artificial intelligence (AI) enables a more personalized approach, known as "precision medicine," which tailors treatments to better suit individual patient characteristics by providing a means to extract value from data related to diagnosis, patient traits, drug candidate properties, and treatment response predictions. As AI technology continues to advance, its future applications in the field of drug research and development will have an even broader market potential.
 

Disclaimer: In no case shall the information or opinions expressed in this article constitute investment advice to any person.