Startups using AI to test new medicines
Many Greek and Greek-owned startups operating abroad are active in the biotechnology and pharmaceuticals sector. These startups use AI to discover new molecules, predict the chances of success of a clinical trial and create and manage enormous databases.
Despite the ups and downs that have rattled the global economy, the biotech/pharma sector remains a favored one for investors, precisely because diseases are one of the biggest challenges demanding solutions. In 2021, amid the Covid-19 pandemic, about $121 billion were invested in the sector globally.
One of the Greek-owned startups, DeepCure, seeks to develop drugs to treat autoimmune and autoinflammatory diseases, such as rheumatoid arthritis and psoriasis. Since 2018, it has been infused with $72 million, but probably needs at least another $100 million, says the start-up’s co-founder, Thrasyvoulos Karydis.
Karydis says that the pharmaceuticals industry is unique among sectors in its familiarization with failure, since only very few of the developed molecules will ever make it to the stage of approved drugs. “Thus, there is a huge margin to improve the process,” he says.
