Baio Labs obtains funding to accelerate drug discovery with generative AI

Finding new drug candidates traditionally involves screening large libraries of existing molecules to identify those that could act on a specific disease target. Despite considerable time and expense, these approaches explore only a tiny fraction of the vast number of possible molecules. Depending on the target, such discovery campaigns can take several years and cost millions of dollars.

Ilia Igashov, Arne Schneuing, and Bruno Correia, two EPFL PhD students and a professor who are pioneering the use of generative AI for structure-based drug design, are developing the platform, Drugon, to shift this process from searching existing chemical libraries to rationally designing new molecules for a specific target. Powered by a generative AI model that considers the three-dimensional structure of the target, the platform can generate novel small molecules in seconds.

Developed by the startup Baio Labs, Drugon brings molecular design, synthesis, and experimental validation into one integrated ecosystem, enabling medicinal chemists to move more efficiently from a therapeutic target to potential drug candidates.

The Ecublens (VD)-based startup is targeting a rapidly expanding computational drug discovery market, aiming to work with pharmaceutical companies to materially reduce their development timelines and bring down the cost of the drug discovery process.

The CHF 150,000 from Venture Kick will help Baio Labs to scale up R&D efforts and implement their go-to-market strategy. “Venture Kick’s support has been instrumental for us to achieve our early business development goals and get ready for future equity investments,” highlighted Ilia Igashov.

(Press release/RAN)
Image: Baio Labs Co-founders L-R: CTO Arne Schneuing and CEO Ilia Igashov