Insilico Medicine Raises $110M to Advance AI Drug Discovery

AI-driven drug discovery firm Insilico Medicine has raised $110 million in an oversubscribed Series E funding round, marking a major milestone in its mission to transform biopharmaceutical research. The funding will support the company’s continued expansion of its AI-enabled drug pipeline, proprietary research platforms, and fully robotic lab.

The round was led by a large equity fund of Value Partners Group, alongside new and existing investors.

Blending AI Innovation with Drug Development

Insilico, based in Massachusetts, specializes in using generative AI to identify and develop novel therapeutics, particularly for age-related diseases and cancer. Its proprietary platform, Pharma.AI, combines biology, clinical data, and scientific research, and generative chemistry to streamline drug discovery. Among its core components are:

• Nach01, a multimodal foundation model designed for understanding natural and chemical languages.

• Dora, a multi-agent generative research assistant.

• Life Star1, a fully automated robotics lab connected to Pharma.AI.

• Insilico Humanoid Scientist, the first bipedal humanoid AI scientist deployed to optimize research workflows.

Founder and CEO Alex Zhavoronkov shared the company’s distinct philosophy in a recent interview with Alicia Shapiro of / at the 2025 HumanX Conference:: "We think aging is a fundamental force behind many diseases. By building AI models that understand human life from cradle to grave, we can pinpoint the ‘criminals’—the root causes of aging and disease—and target them simultaneously."

Hear More from Alex Zhavoronkov: Watch our exclusive interview with Insilico Medicine’s founder during the 2025 HumanX Conference as he discusses how AI is transforming drug discovery, aging research, and what's next for the industry.

Real-World Impact: AI-Designed Drugs in Clinical Trials

Insilico's generative AI capabilities aren’t just theoretical. One of its most notable achievements is the discovery and development of a novel drug targeting idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis—an age-related, fatal lung disease. Leveraging AI aging clocks and its PandaOmics platform, Insilico identified a previously unknown protein target and rapidly designed molecules to inhibit it.

The result: a new drug candidate that successfully advanced through Phase 2A clinical trials, showing promising safety and efficacy outcomes.

"This is not a dream. It’s becoming a reality," Zhavoronkov emphasized.

Supporting Growth and Partnerships

The newly secured $110 million will enable Insilico to further scale its AI platforms, expand its biopharmaceutical collaborations, and refine its automation capabilities.

Dr. Chuen Yan Leung, partner at Value Partners Group, expressed confidence in the company's leadership: "Insilico is at the forefront of transforming the industry. We believe their advancements will not only accelerate the development of life-saving therapies but also redefine the future of biopharmaceutical R&D."

Earlier this year, Insilico finalized a notable licensing deal with Italian pharmaceutical company Menarini Group. Through the agreement, Menarini’s subsidiary, Stemline Therapeutics, acquired global rights to develop and commercialize a selective small molecule inhibitor with broad antitumor potential—an asset identified via Insilico’s Chemistry42 AI platform. The deal includes a $20 million upfront payment, with the total value projected to exceed $550 million, factoring in development, regulatory, and commercial milestones, as well as tiered royalties.

The Broader AI Drug Discovery Landscape

Insilico is part of a rapidly growing sector focused on AI in life sciences. Other notable players include:

• Manas AI, co-founded by LinkedIn’s Reid Hoffman and oncologist Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, which launched with $24.6 million in seed funding.

• AION Labs, backed by major pharmaceutical firms like AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer, and Teva Pharmaceuticals, Israel Biotech Fund, along with AWS, German research institute Bio Med X, and the Israel Innovation Authority, supporting a portfolio of eight AI life sciences startups.

Looking Ahead: Automation, Robotics, and Longevity Research

Zhavoronkov also highlighted future trends shaping Insilico’s strategy, including robotics, quantum computing, and global drug development partnerships.

"Fully autonomous labs, advanced robotics, and AI-driven aging research will be key to accelerating the delivery of effective therapeutics," he noted, adding that rapid chemical synthesis capabilities in countries like China are crucial for speeding up real-world testing.

What This Means: A Turning Point for AI in Life Sciences and Aging Research

Insilico Medicine’s $110 million funding round and recent clinical breakthroughs signal a transformative moment for AI's role in drug discovery and human health. The company’s ability to bring an AI-designed drug candidate through Phase 2A trials is more than just a technological achievement—it’s proof that AI can accelerate the timeline from target identification to human testing, reducing years of costly trial-and-error research.

This milestone underscores the growing maturity of AI platforms like Insilico’s, where generative models and automated labs work hand-in-hand to tackle some of the most complex challenges in medicine, from cancer to age-related diseases. By focusing on aging as a root cause of many conditions, Insilico is not only advancing treatment options but also redefining how we understand and potentially slow the aging process itself.

For the life sciences industry, this marks a shift from AI being seen as experimental to being recognized as an essential tool for drug development. It opens doors for more collaborations, faster clinical pipelines, and ultimately, therapies that could extend healthy lifespans.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.