Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold has already transformed the scientific community’s grasp of protein structures, and now its capabilities in designing safe and effective drugs are about to face rigorous evaluation. Isomorphic Labs, a UK-based biotech offshoot of Google DeepMind, is preparing to initiate human trials for drugs crafted through its AI technology, notable for having won a Nobel Prize. Max Jaderberg, president of Isomorphic Labs, expressed enthusiasm about entering clinical trials and assessing the efficacy of the designed molecules, though he did not specify the exact timeline. This step comes slightly later than initially projected, as the CEO Demis Hassabis had previously indicated plans for AI-designed drugs to enter clinical trials by the end of 2025.
Established in 2021 as a spinout from Alphabet’s AI research arm Google DeepMind, Isomorphic Labs leverages the AlphaFold platform—renowned for predicting protein structures—to advance drug discovery efforts. Proteins, composed of 20 different amino acids linked into long chains, play vital roles in all living organisms. Their three-dimensional folding patterns determine functionality. Predicting these structures had been a challenge for decades due to the massive number of possible configurations, until 2020 when AlphaFold 2, using deep learning, achieved remarkable accuracy. Following this, an open-source version was made widely accessible. In 2024, the release of AlphaFold 3 further extended capabilities by modeling protein interactions with other key molecules such as DNA and RNA, crucial for understanding drug binding and interactions, as noted by Hassabis.
Since AlphaFold’s introduction, it has predicted structures for nearly all of the 200 million known proteins and seen use by over two million users worldwide. The platform garnered Hassabis and John Jumper the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024, with the committee highlighting its contributions to areas like antibiotic resistance and enzymatic degradation of plastics. Building on this success, Isomorphic Labs unveiled IsoDDE, a proprietary drug design engine purported to more than double the accuracy of AlphaFold 3, signaling significant advancements. The company has entered collaborations with Eli Lilly and Novartis to explore AI-driven drug discovery while independently progressing a varied pipeline targeting oncology and immunology. Jaderberg emphasized that the enhanced understanding of molecular mechanisms allows their engineered drugs to be highly potent, enabling lower dosages and reducing adverse effects.
Last year, Isomorphic Labs appointed a chief medical officer and secured $600 million in funding to support forthcoming clinical trials and expand its clinical development team. The firm has ambitiously set its sights on curing all diseases, a goal Jaderberg acknowledged might sound audacious but one they pursue with sincere conviction. He concluded that despite the scale of the mission, they believe in its attainability and approach it with earnest determination.