Takeda Pharmaceuticals

The subsidiary of Google parent Alphabet plans to use its first round of external funding to boost its artificial-intelligence drug design pipeline across multiple therapeutic areas.

Founded last year and based in San Francisco, Taxo tells TechCrunch it passed $1 million ARR six months after its launch. It now serves about 15 customers, ranging from clinics to government providers.

Goldman Sachs estimates that AI drug discovery and breakthroughs like gene editing will add 0.5% to 2.5% to the U.S. gross domestic product. McKinsey & Co. follows suit, noting AI could generate 30% efficiency gains and cost savings in the pharmaceutical sector and trigger financial gains of up to $110 billion annually.

Biotech company Immunai, which developed an AI-based immune system mapping technology for drug development, announces the appointment of Dr. Mikael Dolsten to its board of directors.

Another company involved in using AI to repurpose failed drugs - as well as drugs that have already been approved - is BioXcel Therapeutics. Unlike Ignota, however, the company focuses on compounds that have already demonstrated safety in prior clinical trials, but have been discontinued by their developers for various other reasons.

Seeking more efficient drug development, pharmaceutical giants and startups are encouraging AI fluency and in some cases offering training for it.

"For the past 10 years, we have been working on using AI to solve real-world problems," Daisuke Okanohara of Preferred Networks told CNBC's "Managing Asia."

Telescope Innovations Corp. (CSE:TELI) is leveraging its expertise to advance chemistry process development and crystallization optimization in pharmaceuticals, industrial chemicals, and critical minerals ・Telescope's Self-Driving Labs (SDLs) integrate AI,