Coalition of pharma and tech leaders launches to improve drug development with AI

A new alliance consisting of pharmaceutical companies and investment organisations has officially launched to spearhead the adoption of artificial intelligence (AI) technologies to help solve drug discovery and development challenges.

AION Labs is a collaboration between AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer, Teva, Amazon Web Services (AWS) and the Israel Biotech Fund (IBF). The organisations have come together with the aim of leveraging AI and computational ventures that will use cloud technologies to transform how new therapies are discovered and developed.

 AION Labs will create and invest in early-stage start-up teams focused on AI and computational biology in drug discovery and development, offering each of them resources and mentorship while working closely with them to develop new technologies.

Start-ups should be focused on using AI and the scale and security of cloud technologies to find new treatments faster and more efficiently. They should also avoid animal experiments and advance healthcare towards patient-centric precision medicine.

Former senior executive at Teva Pharmaceuticals, Mati Gill has been appointed CEO of AION Labs, whilst the former head of computational biology at Compugen and science operations at CytoReason, and principal scientist at MSD, Yair Benita, has been appointed CTO.

The launch AION Labs follows a successful government tender to establish an Innovation Lab in December 2020 after the Israel Innovation Authority identified life sciences as a vital area for growth potential and investment.

“We are excited to launch our new Innovation Lab for new drug and device discoveries,” said Mati Gill, CEO of AION Labs. “Our R&D needs-based approach, coupled with our outstanding alliance, is poised to transform the process of therapeutic discovery and development. With a strong talent pool, AI technology at our core and a significant commitment of the Israeli government, we hope to contribute to the health and well-being of humankind. I’m honoured to lead such a meaningful initiative, and to work closely with our consortium members to solve many of the world’s critical health issues.”

To begin, AION Labs has partnered with Germany-based biomedical institute BioMed X. The partnership will see BioMed X’s innovation model, based on global crowdsourcing and local incubation of the brightest research talents and ideas, be used to serve as the R&D engine to propel AION Lab’s venture creation model.

“We are excited to extend our successful innovation model to Israel,” said Christian Tidona, founder and Managing Director of BioMed X. “In our view, Israel is currently the best place to jointly leverage the power of artificial intelligence for drug discovery and development together with leading global players in pharmaceuticals, tech and venture capital.”

“AION Labs is an excellent example of what Pfizer seeks to help build through collaboration within biopharma and across industries: a program with the potential to accelerate the development of meaningful breakthroughs that could change patients’ lives,” said Uwe Schoenbeck, senior vice president and chief scientific officer for Emerging Science & Innovation at Pfizer. “We look forward to playing a pivotal role in AION’s pursuit of innovation.”

Jim Weatherall, vice president, Data Science and AI, R&D, AstraZeneca added: “Data, analytics and AI are already starting to transform the way we discover and develop new medicines and I believe we are only at the tip of the iceberg in terms of its promise. Through AION Labs we have the potential to solve some of the greatest R&D challenges and find new and better ways to discover, test and accelerate the potential medicines of tomorrow. I look forward to helping form the challenges and select and mentor the companies that will enter the Lab.”