A series of AI‑empowered drug discovery collaborations across multiple projects in the fields of central nervous system and autoimmune diseases have been announced by Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage biotechnology company driven by generative artificial intelligence (AI) and China Medical System Holdings Limited, an open-platform innovative company linking pharmaceutical innovation and commercialisation with strong product lifecycle management capability.
According to the collaboration agreement, the two parties will combine Insilico Medicine’s validated AI platform and AI-enabled innovative drug discovery and development capabilities with CMS’s experienced R&D team and deep disease-area expertise to jointly advance the co-development of no fewer than two R&D programmes.
Insilico Medicine is also expected to receive R&D funding support of up to several tens of millions of HKD for each programme.
This collaboration will fully leverage the complementary strengths of both parties across the entire value chain of drug discovery, clinical development, and commercialisation.
By integrating resources and technologies, the companies aim to accelerate the research, development, and translation of high-potential innovative therapies.
Insilico will capitalise on its Pharma. AI platform and its technological capabilities in target discovery, small-molecule design, and optimisation to enable efficient screening and validation of candidate molecules.
CMS will contribute its extensive experience and well-established networks in clinical development strategy, regulatory pathway planning, clinical trial execution, and commercial promotion, to advance projects from preclinical stages into clinical development and ultimately to commercialization.
Under this collaboration framework, the parties will jointly optimize project decision-making, shorten development timelines, and improve clinical success rates, thereby significantly accelerating the entire journey from laboratory discovery to patient access.
This strong partnership is expected not only to bring innovative medicines into clinical development and to market more rapidly, but also to offer patients more innovative and accessible treatment options, ultimately improving health outcomes and quality of life.
Harnessing state-of-the-art AI and automation technologies, Insilico has significantly improved the efficiency of preclinical drug development, setting a benchmark for AI-driven drug R&D.
While traditional early-stage drug discovery typically requires an average of 4.5 years, Insilico has nominated 20 preclinical candidates from 2021 to 2024, with an average timeline—from project initiation to preclinical candidate (PCC) nomination—of just 12 to 18 months per program, with only 60 to 200 molecules synthesised and tested in each programme.
