Expanding APAC presence, Insilico Medicine seals strategic collaboration on AI-driven mash therapy development with Korean Biotech Therasid Bioscience

Insilico Medicine(“Insilico”), a clinical-stage generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven drug discovery company, recently announces that the company has entered a strategic collaboration with Therasid Bioscience, an innovative biotechnology company founded in South Korea, to utilize advanced AI technology to co-develop novel therapies for the treatment of metabolic dysfunction associated steatohepatitis (MASH).  

 MASH, previously known as Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH), is a severe form of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), characterized by liver inflammation and damage caused by a buildup of fat. Potentially progressing to liver cirrhosis and hepatic cellular carcinoma, MASH affects approximately 5% adults globally, according to latest epidemiology results. However, the complexity and silent progression of the disease pose challenges for diagnosis and treatment. 

By leveraging Insilico’s validated generative AI platform, Pharma.AI, and dedicated drug discovery and development team, along with Therasid’s robust R&D proficiency and deep insights into MASH, both companies aim to combine their unique strengths to deliver novel therapies at an accelerated pace, through the strategic collaboration. 

“We are thrilled to embark on this significant collaboration with Insilico Medicine. The integration of Insilico’s advanced AI capabilities with our extensive research experience in MASH holds immense potential,” says Jay H.J. Kim, CEO of Therasid Bioscience. “With joint efforts, we hope to accelerate the discovery and development of novel, more efficacious treatments, ultimately improving the lives of millions of patients worldwide.” 

“This partnership marks another significant step in expanding our presence in the APAC market, enabling us to forge strong local collaborations and enhance our global reach,” says Feng Ren, PhD, Co-CEO and chief scientific officer of Insilico Medicine. “With the support of Pharma.AI, our ever-growing AI drug discovery platform, we hope to shift MASH treatment with unprecedented efficiency.” 

Founded in 2014, Insilico Medicine is a pioneer in using generative AI for drug discovery and development. Insilico first described the concept of using generative AI for the design of novel molecules in a peer-reviewed journal in 2016, which laid the foundation for the commercially available Pharma.AI platform spanning across biology, chemistry and clinical development. Powered by Pharma.AI, Insilico has nominated 18 preclinical candidates in its comprehensive portfolio of over 30 assets since 2021 and has received IND approval for 7 molecules. Recently, the company published a paper in Nature Biotechnology presenting the entire R&D journey of its lead drug pipeline, INS018_055, from AI algorithms to Phase II clinical trials. 

About Insilico Medicine 

Insilico Medicine, a global clinical stage biotechnology company powered by generative AI, is connecting biology, chemistry and clinical trials analysis using next-generation AI systems. The company has developed AI platforms that utilize deep generative models, reinforcement learning, transformers and other modern machine learning techniques for novel target discovery and the generation of novel molecular structures with desired properties. Insilico Medicine is developing breakthrough solutions to discover and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, immunity, central nervous system diseases, infectious diseases, autoimmune diseases, and aging-related diseases.  

www.insilico.com 

About Therasid Bioscience 

Therasid Bioscience was established in 2017 with a specialty in developing innovative first-in-class drugs for treatment of nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) or metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH), a leading cause of liver cirrhosis-driven mortality. NASH shows a wide spectrum of clinical manifestations primarily based on the severity of inflammation and fibrosis in the diseased liver. The lead pipeline of the company, TB-840, is in front of pre-IND meeting for phase 2a clinical trial in US and Korea. The key strategy of the company to tackle this complex metabolic disease and to develop NASH therapeutics that can benefit patients with diverse NASH profiles starts from a comprehensive understanding of the molecular mechanisms underlying NASH pathogenesis processes including steatosis, inflammation, and fibrosis in multiple cell types implicated in NASH development.  

Reference 

[1] Ledford, H. (2024). First US drug approved for a liver disease surging around the world. Nature. https://doi.org/10.1038/d41586-024-00747-9 

[2] Ren, F., et al. A small-molecule TNIK inhibitor targets fibrosis in preclinical and clinical models. Nat Biotechnol (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41587-024-02143-0