Alex Zhavoronkov, longevity researcher and CEO of an AI-driven pharma company

Who we're talking about: Latvian scientist Alex Zhavoronkov. Zhavoronkov is an adjunct professor of artificial intelligence at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging. He is also the founder of Insilico Medicine, which aims to use "artificial intelligence for every step of pharmaceutical research and development."

Insilico's current leading drug candidate, INS018_055, is an AI-designed drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a deadly aging-related disease that has no known cure. Over the past two years, INS018_055 has already completed Phase 0 and Phase I human trials and is currently in Phase II trials.

Why this is a big deal: Zhavoronkov says that using AI to find and design a novel drug took just about 18 months at a budget of $2.7 million. That’s a third of the time and a tenth of the cost it might have taken otherwise.

Right now, the eyes of the pharma industry are on Insilico. If Zhavoronkov and Insilico are successful, INS018_055 would become the first AI-designed drug, a revolution in how we design and create new pharmaceuticals.

And the news is: Zhavoronkov was profiled last week by Bloomberg. If you want to get a glimpse of how the world of AI and the world of longevity might soon interact, the Bloomberg article is worth a read.