ATOMWISE

Published by Daniel at February 1, 2023

Developing an effective drug for a specific disease is a process that takes several years and has always been a complex area in medicine. Atomwise Inc. is an AI drug discovery startup founded in 2012 by Abraham Heifets Ph.D., Alexander Levy, and Dr. Izhar Wallach in San Francisco, California. The company seeks to reinvent the drug discovery process by targeting molecular recognition, using a neural network called AtomNet, which allows chemists to tackle challenges and discover medicines more quickly. Atomwise is offering a promising future for the pharmaceutical and agrochemical world, including corporations such as Merck and Bayer, and to more than 50 leading academic institutions and hospitals on the road to “find better medicines for tomorrow.”(1,2)

This AI giant counts with 176.6 million dollars in total funding, has already tackled over 600 unique disease targets across 775 collaborations with investors and other biotech companies, and has more than 250 partners worldwide that benefit from this technology.(3)

Different specialties and Common goals

Atomwise’s core values are to work with accomplished pioneers in AI and cross-collaborate between different specialties, including experts in software, machine learning, and medical chemistry, toward a common goal. Three main divisions integrate the company: leadership, business, and R&D team; it counts with 65 workers led by its CEO, Doctor Abraham Heifets.(4)

Sharpening the odds

Developing a new medicine is an expensive and lengthy process; for every molecule that becomes a drug, millions are tested before finding a suitable one. Atomwise technology targets the proteins that have been linked to a disease, but at the moment, scientists do not yet have enough structural data on the molecule. The AtomNet platform was built to recognize proteins and their ligands as different chemical structures. It also learns to detect essential chemical groups in these molecules, including hydrogen bonds or single-bonded carbons. After this convolutional neural network identifies these compatible small molecules based on target and molecular libraries and selects those with the best profile and effectiveness to be further researched, considerably reducing time and costs for new agents’ advent. This structure-based drug-design system is highly accurate, with a 74% overall success rate, and allows the screening of billions of compounds in a few days, offering a novel option that is broadly applicable. Areas like oncology, infectious diseases, cardiovascular, and immunology are the most benefited from this technology. Nowadays, more molecules predicted by this platform are being studied in promising research programs.(5,6,7)

Ventures for victory

Collaborations through joint ventures play a significant role in Atomwise. Some of these ventures include Organ AI, Theia Biosciences, vAIrus, X37, and A2i therapeutics, as well as alliances with Atropos Therapeutics and SEngine. Organ AI targets drug development for rare and complex diseases, such as Rett Syndrome, with biological model testing thanks to StemoniX’s human microOrgan platform. Theia Biosciences, a joint effort with the University of California at Riverside, focuses on age-related macular degeneration, especially the dry type, which remains with no known treatment. The venture vAIrus collaborates with the expert Dr. Nito Panganiban in creating broad-spectrum antivirals to target members of the genus flavivirus such as Dengue, Zika, and West Nile Virus, among others.

Additionally, the alliances with Atropos Therapeutics and SEngine, as well as the ventures A2i therapeutics and X37, are investigating cellular senescence markers to refine oncology treatments; however, the latter is also aiming for agents useful for autoimmune diseases and novel anticoagulation development.(8,9,10,11)

Theia Biosciences, a joint effort with the University of California at Riverside, focuses on age-related macular degeneration, especially the dry type, which remains with no known treatment. The venture vAIrus collaborates with the expert Dr. Nito Panganiban in creating broad-spectrum antivirals to target members of the genus flavivirus such as Dengue, Zika, and West Nile Virus, among others. Additionally, the alliances with Atropos Therapeutics and SEngine, as well as the ventures A2i therapeutics and X37, are investigating cellular senescence markers to refine oncology treatments; however, the latter is also aiming for agents useful for autoimmune diseases and novel anticoagulation development.(8,9,10,11)

This company AIMS for new ideas

Atomwise engages in promising academic research and encourages talent. The Artificial Intelligence Molecular Screen (AIMS) award program buttresses researchers with innovative molecular targets for human and nonhuman health problems. Once a target is proposed, hypothesized, presented, and selected by the company as the most promising applicant, the winner receives support to use AtomNet to accelerate the proposal of compounds, as well as technical and infrastructure support from the company. Besides this program, Atomwise also partners with startup projects that will benefit from the network, expertise, funding, and connections among the Chemistry for Academic Drug Discovery Startups (CADDS) ecosystem behind Atomwise’s success. Some of the companies involved include Y Combinator for funding, Enamine for on-demand compound synthesis, Charles River for drug research acceleration, and BioMotiv for pharmaceutical acceleration.(12,13)

High-end partners

Several other recognized enterprises and institutions have partnered with Atomwise, realizing its potential to enhance drug development. These companies include Merck, Lilly, Bayer, Abbvie, and BridgeBio therapeutics. Other allied institutions include the University of Toronto, Duke University School of Medicine, and the Drugs for Neglected Diseases initiative. These partnerships have a wide range of projects ranging from veterinary, botanical, medical, and environmental projects.(14)

Spreading the voice

Success and brilliance in tackling a problem of this magnitude represent a promising future for drug engineering. Proof of this company’s achievements are several awards from CBInsight, Forbes, MIT Technology Review, and IoT Breakthrough.(15)

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