Why Is AI Drug Discovery So Hot? And How Long Will It Stay Hot? | FreeS Fund Events & Research Recs
Three Slightly Brain-Burning Little Gifts
Happy weekend — we've got three brain-tickling gifts for you.
- A livestream on The New Infrastructure of Drug Discovery: The Rise of AI/Computational Pharma
This is the second session of FreeS Fund's 2020 Biomedical VC Summit. On Sunday, November 1, from 9–10am Beijing time, FreeS Fund's Rui Ma, XtalPi co-founder Lipeng Lai, NxGenBio founder Ning Xia, ChemX Founder Xiaobo Wan, and METiS Pharmaceuticals founder Caida Lai will discuss cutting-edge trends in computational technology.
(Sign up for Sunday's livestream 👆)
- A Q&A on how Chinese biotech companies are navigating the macro environment
This excerpt comes from the first summit session, (In-Depth Dialogue) Post-Pandemic Pharmaceutical Innovation in China. We'll be publishing the full transcript soon.
- A biotech article collection
This compilation captures our thinking on the biotech industry this year — a five-year retrospective on our biotech investment practice; the fundamentals, present state, and future of gene therapy; how COVID-19 has reshaped the biotech industry; and founders' reflections on the idealism and reality of building biotech startups.
Hope these spark something. Drop us a comment with your thoughts on biotech entrepreneurship.
/ 01 /
Biotech Livestream
The New Infrastructure of Drug Discovery: The Rise of AI/Computational Pharma
First, the livestream.
In 2020, the value of biomedical innovation has become more pronounced than ever, making it the hottest capital market theme. We want to bring more people along as we step into the great era of biotech innovation. On October 24, we hosted the first session of FreeS Fund's 2020 Biomedical VC Summit.
This Sunday morning, the second session goes live: The New Infrastructure of Drug Discovery: The Rise of AI/Computational Pharma.
Faced with massive unmet clinical needs and COVID-19, our hunger for new drugs has never been more acute. Yet US data shows drug discovery has followed Eroom's law — the inverse of Moore's law: from 1950 to 2010, the number of new drugs produced per $1 billion in R&D spending halved every nine years. Meanwhile, computing power and biosynthesis sequencing costs keep dropping, following Moore's law. This widening gap between the two curves is the fundamental driver for using computation and AI to solve drug discovery's efficiency problem.
In China, AI pharma is booming — high investor interest, high pharma engagement, rapid technology cross-pollination. Chinese drug discovery is industrializing and digitizing simultaneously. The shift toward innovative drugs is accelerating alongside rapid adoption and iteration of new tools like AI pharma. High-growth, critical technical inflection points could become the new foundation of future drug discovery.
Data-driven and computational approaches are a key investment lens for FreeS Fund in healthcare. Since 2016, we've steadily built positions across multiple AI/computational pharma companies, covering crystal form, formulation, synthesis, molecular generation, and screening.
For this session, we're bringing together Rui Ma of FreeS Fund, Lipeng Lai of XtalPi, Ning Xia of NxGenBio, Xiaobo Wan of ChemX, and Caida Lai of METiS Pharmaceuticals to explore:
- Where are AI and computation being applied in drug discovery, and what's new?
- Why is AI pharma so hot, and why now?
- How should we assess where AI pharma stands today?
- First principles or AI?
- What do different types of Chinese pharma companies need from AI and computation, and how are they using it?
- Where is AI pharma headed?
- What backgrounds give people an edge in entering AI pharma?
Biotech founders and researchers: join us Sunday, November 1, 9–10am for session two.
/ 02 /
Pharmaceutical Innovation in China
Q&A
We'll soon publish the full transcript from the first summit session, (In-Depth Dialogue) Post-Pandemic Pharmaceutical Innovation in China. Here's a preview — a Q&A on how Chinese biotech companies are navigating the macro environment.
Q: Against the backdrop of turbulent US-China and China-EU relations, international collaboration in biotech faces serious headwinds. What advice do you have for Chinese pharma companies?
Jiong Shen: On US-China tensions — as an investor who's long-term bullish on biotech innovation, I'd say don't get too distracted by short-term noise. The fluctuations have actually created new opportunities. We're seeing three things: first, more top-tier talent choosing to return to China; second, domestic policy increasingly favors innovation, with strong support for fundamental science — the macro environment is constructive; third, with ChiNext, registration-based IPO reforms, and other developments, more capital is willing to back so-called high-risk innovation. From talent, policy, and capital perspectives, the industry is facing excellent opportunities. That's partly why FreeS is running this series — we want more people to take the long view and seize the moment with a longer time horizon.
/ 03 /
FreeS Fund Biotech Collection
Here's our 2020 biotech research (click to access the collection). Hope it sparks something.
Three biotech founders — working in gene therapy, AI orthopedics and surgical robotics, and omics-based companion diagnostics — share stories colored by romanticism, but also the pain and reflection that comes when ideals collide with reality. This is the real face of biotech entrepreneurship in China today.
FreeS Fund founding partner Li Feng looks back on five years of biotech investing and explains why we're firmly optimistic about Chinese biotech innovation. We see China's biotech innovation at the intersection of "three converging circles" — and beneath that, a process of大浪淘金 (separating gold from the sand).
"Standing at the Forefront of Gene Therapy | FreeS Research" (click title to read)
From the history of drug development and how different drug classes interact with the human body, we explore the fundamentals, present state, and future of gene therapy.
Tracing COVID-19's global spread, we examine its impact on the biotech industry and investment opportunities in the post-pandemic era.
▍Coming Up
Sunday morning, see you in the livestream for The New Infrastructure of Drug Discovery: The Rise of AI/Computational Pharma.
