Exscientia

History

2021: Raising $35 Million from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation

In early September 2021, the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation will invest $35 million in Exscientia to finance the development of antiviral drugs, including for the treatment of COVID-19 coronavirus.

It is noted that this investment by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation is necessary to finance five small-molecule assets in a clinic designed to treat COVID-19, influenza, and other viruses that could become the next pandemic in the world. The four-year collaboration includes the promotion of Exscientia's leading program, the antiviral drug COVID-19, to the clinic in the second half of 2022.

The COVID-19 antiviral program could lead to two or three more drugs targeting the virus, which caused a pandemic that lasted almost two years, said Exscientia CEO Andrew Hopkins.

Gates Foundation invests $35 million in unique coronavirus drug developer Exscientia

Exscientia aims to discover, design and develop the best drugs in the fastest and most effective way, using artificial intelligence. The company has repeatedly demonstrated the ability of AI to transform the process of creating drugs. Exscientia's AI platform has already developed three drugs that are in the first phase of human clinical trials by September 2021.

Drug development is precision engineering at the molecular level. Exscientia has created specialized AI systems that are effectively trained based on a wide range of data and consistently apply the knowledge gained during development iterations.

Exscientia will lead initial antiviral projects and apply its platform technology to research, discover and develop up to five small molecule therapeutics ready for phase one to ensure pandemic preparedness in the future.^[1]

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