Can AI speed up a cure for coronavirus? This Hong Kong startup opens its resources to global drug firms for free

Insilico Medicine says pharmaceutical firms can use its AI-created compounds that are designed to work on a key 'target' of the coronavirus. Co-founder Zhavoronkov expects non-profit research institutes to also join the effort to test some of the drug compounds. — SCMP

Insilico Medicine, a Hong Kong-based startup, has partially opened up its database of drug compounds to global pharmaceutical companies, hoping to find a cure quickly for the deadly Covid-19 disease.

The five-year-old artificial intelligence software developer last week published on its website the molecular structure of several hundred chemical compounds, which are designed to work on a key “target” of the coronavirus. It is now seeking feedback from medicinal chemists, and aims to synthesise and test up to 100 of them with partners.