The UK government is pledging 拢82.6m ($102.2m) in research funding to back artificial intelligence (AI) companies developing technologies to accelerate drug development.
The government is investing 拢37.9m in three British research projects under the Research Ventures Catalyst (RVC) programme. This funding is complemented by an additional 拢44.7m in co-investment from various sources, bringing the total backing to 拢82.6m.
Two of the three projects involve artificial intelligence (AI) companies using technology to advance treatments and diagnostics for cancer and Alzheimer鈥檚 disease. PharosAI 鈥� a Kings College London-spinout 鈥� will secure 拢43.6m of this funding. The company aims to create a platform for AI researchers and companies to access a broad spectrum of cancer-related datasets to train AI for healthcare settings. PharosAI secured 拢100,000 in seed funding in April 2024 as part of the RVC programme.
The second company to secure funding is the UK鈥檚 first not-for-profit focused research organisation (FRO), named Bind Research. The company 鈥� with the help of the 拢25.8m from the government 鈥搘ill develop innovative AI-based tools to characterise disordered drug-protein interactions, aiming to 鈥渄rug currently undruggable proteins鈥�. It will also train these AI tools to predict protein-drug interactions, speeding up the drug discovery process.
Dr. Gabi Heller, Dr. Thomas L枚hr, and Dr. Gogulan Karunanithy, scientific co-founders at Bind Research said that the RVC programme has allowed them to adopt a not-for-profit FRO strategy that, 鈥渦ntil now, was largely uncharted territory in the UK鈥�.
These funding announcements were made at the AI Action Summit, being held in Paris, France, on 10鈥�11 February. Notably at the meeting, the UK, along with the US, declined to sign a declaration that supported an 鈥渋nclusive鈥�, 鈥渟ustainable鈥�, and 鈥渆thical鈥� to using AI. The UK Prime Minister鈥檚 spokesperson said to that the government would 鈥渙nly ever sign up to initiatives that are in UK national interests鈥�. The US and UK governments have not expanded on the reasons behind not signing the declaration, which was approved by 60 other countries, including France, India and China.
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By GlobalDataRecently, the UK government has been intent on showcasing its plans for AI. The healthcare sector is already harnessing its potential, particularly for drug discovery. Yesterday (10 February), the Technology Secretary Peter Kyle launched the AI Playbook for the UK Government to provide departments and public sector organisations with accessible technical guidance on the safe and effective use of AI. The government also expanded the UK鈥檚 involvement in the European High-Performance Computing (EuroHPC) Joint Undertaking by committing 拢7.8m to fund UK researchers and businesses鈥� participation in EuroHPC research.
The number of AI-focused startup and scaleup health tech businesses in Europe is growing. GlobalData job analytics shows that hiring related to AI within the European pharmaceutical and healthcare sector has increased rapidly over the last five years and continues to do so even when hiring in other related areas has plateaued.
According to a by GlobalData, the parent company of 色界吧 Technology, AI is considered the most disruptive technology among businesses, including in the healthcare industry. The 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry was awarded to the UK-founded DeepMind team for their work on AlphaFold, an AI system that accurately predicts protein structures. However, data scarcity, biological complexity, and regulatory concerns still present significant hurdles despite the hype.
