-Insilico's candidate demonstrated a favorable profile with good in vivo 
efficacy at low doses, efficient synthesis, and no need for co-administration 
with Ritonavir.
-The candidate is intended to be used for the treatment of SARS-CoV-2 and its 
variants, along with other coronaviruses.
-Insilico's candidate has a novel structure that can be synthesized 
efficiently, designed by its propriety AI-driven small molecule generation 
platform, Chemistry42.


Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage end-to-end artificial intelligence 
(AI)-driven drug discovery company, today announced its nomination of a novel 
preclinical candidate (PCC) targeting 3C-like (3CL) protease for the treatment 
of COVID-19.

Insilico's PCC is an orally available 3CL protease inhibitor with a novel 
structure generated using Insilico's AI platform. The compound can be 
efficiently prepared with a two-step synthesis from commercial starting 
materials. In preclinical studies, it demonstrated a favorable profile with 
good in vivo efficacy at low doses and its observed efficacy is independent of 
co-administration with CYP3A4/Pgp inhibitor (e.g. Ritonavir). It also showed 
broad-spectrum antiviral activities, not only for SARS-CoV-2 and its variants, 
but also for other types of coronaviruses that cause diseases including severe 
acute respiratory syndrome (SARS), and Middle East respiratory syndrome (MERS).
 
"This molecule designed by AI has distinct pharmacophores from existing 3CL 
protease inhibitors and binds to the target protein in a unique, irreversible, 
covalent binding mode as demonstrated by a co-crystal structure," said Feng 
Ren, Ph.D., Chief Scientific Officer of Insilico Medicine. "We are committed to 
progress the molecule as fast as possible into clinical trials evaluating its 
usage in COVID-19 treatment."

Insilico initially trained its end-to-end AI platform to combat the pandemic 
early in the outbreak based on knowledge of the virus' structure and properties 
developed from the SARS outbreak in 2003. Empowered by its AI platform, the 
company narrowed and identified the 3CL target in early 2020 and then published 
its first set of novel compound structures designed using its small molecule 
generation platform Chemistry42 in February 2020.

 "The COVID-19 pandemic brought global attention to the pressing need for rapid 
drug development," said Alex Zhavoronkov, Ph.D., Founder and CEO of Insilico 
Medicine. "We made an executive decision to start our COVID-19 program early. 
We were mobilized along with the rest of the scientific community and were able 
to demonstrate how powerful AI tools can be in the fight against the disease."

The epidemic caused by the Novel Coronavirus has had a significant impact on 
human health and economic development and has brought severe challenges to 
global public health security. Insilico's R&D team has initiated 
investigational new drug (IND)-enabling studies for the PCC to accelerate its 
progression to a clinical asset.

Since 2021, Insilico has nominated 7 preclinical candidates discovered and 
designed using its AI platform in a variety of disease areas, including 
fibrosis, inflammation, and cancer. It also successfully completed a Phase 0 
microdose trial and entered a Phase I clinical trial with its first internally 
developed program for fibrosis.

About Insilico Medicine

Insilico Medicine, a clinical stage end-to-end artificial intelligence 
(AI)-driven drug discovery company, is connecting biology, chemistry, and 
clinical trials analysis using next-generation AI systems. The company has 
developed AI platforms that utilize deep generative models, reinforcement 
learning, transformers, and other modern machine learning techniques to 
discover novel targets and to design novel molecular structures with desired 
properties. Insilico Medicine is delivering breakthrough solutions to discover 
and develop innovative drugs for cancer, fibrosis, immunity, central nervous 
system (CNS) diseases and aging-related diseases.

For more information, visit www.insilico.com.

For media inquiries, please contact media@insilicomedicine.com.

Source: Insilico Medicine

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