Japanese firm finds powerful new use for AI in drug discovery

Japanese AI specialist Elix is to commence work on a joint research project with Shionogi (TYO: 4507), leveraging its Elix Synthesize platform.

Based in Tokyo, Elix is a start-up company using deep learning and machine learning to facilitate drug discovery. The firm’s platform is described as a “retrosynthetic analysis module,” which can be used as part of this process.

The deal with Osaka-based Shionogi will see the companies working together to verify retrosynthetic analysis using chemical reaction data supplied by the pharma major.