ZURICH, Oct 27 (Reuters) – Swiss AI start-up Atlast Bio, which runs drug trials on virtual patients, has received $12.5 million in funding led by Swedish venture capital firm Creandum, an early backer of Spotify and Trade Republic, the company said on Tuesday.
• Atlas Bio is aiming to replace Phase II drug trials, which it says cost more than $100 million, take two to three years and see about 70% of drugs fail at that stage
• An AI foundation model, trained on about two million human RNA readouts, would replace these and animal testing with 12-week simulations, the company said
• Virtual trials can also evaluate drugs across multiple diseases simultaneously, something not feasible in conventional clinical trials, Atlas Bio added
• Results from a first trial are expected within 6 weeks
• Atlas Bio was founded by former Google employees alongside AI and pharmaceutical specialists
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Marleen KaesebierEditing by Keith Weir)
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