Photo by Mohamed Nohassi on Unsplash

An Introduction

The pharmaceutical industry is embracing AI to streamline drug discovery and development because creating a new drug using AI can help a company, in some cases, develop a new drug in a matter of days instead of the years it might take using the traditional clinical trial approach.

• According to Grand View Research the global “AI in drug discovery” market was worth about $1.1 billion last year but should grow at a 30% clip from 2023 to 2030;
• Deep Pharma Intelligence estimates that investments in the field of AI-powered drug discovery have tripled over the past four years to nearly $25 billion;
• Janssen Research & Development (JNJ arm) concludes the AI method to be up to 250 times more efficient than the traditional method of drug discovery holding the potential to reduce timelines for drug discovery, to increase accuracy of predictions on efficacy and safety as well as to create better, and more, opportunities to diversify drug pipelines; and
• Morgan Stanley believes that AI-powered drug discovery will lead to an additional 50 novel therapies being brought to market over the next decade, with annual sales in excess of $50 billion! In other words, a $50 billion AI drug discovery revolution is underway.

The Clinical Trial Process

Most new drugs are currently approved through human clinical trials: rigorous, year-long procedures starting in animal trials and gradually moving to patients in trials who are exposed to side effects that cannot be predicted or expected. The process typically cost billions of dollars and take many years to complete, sometimes more than a decade, and, even if their trials are successful, they still have to receive approval of a country’s respective regulatory agency. Source

Why Use AI Technology In Drug Development?

AI technology, however, helps companies aggregate and synthesize a lot of information that’s needed for clinical trials, thus shortening the drug development process. It can also help understand the mechanisms of the disease, establish biomarkers, generate data, models, or novel drug candidates, design or redesign drugs, run preclinical experiments, design and run clinical trials, and even analyze the real-world experience. Source

Our AI-Focused Drug Discovery Stocks Portfolio

The following 5 clinical-stage companies are using AI to facilitate their discovery and development of new drugs.  They are ranked as to their stock's performances week-ending July 18th, in descending order, and MTD, along with a description of their focus and reason(s) for their stock price changes, where applicable:

3 of the 5 constituents advanced .thanks to a mix of bullish analyst sentiment, institutional accumulation, and growing excitement around AI-powered drug discovery:

1. Absci Corporation  (ABSI): UP 16.9% w/e July 18th; UP 19.1% MTD
   • Focus: analyzes drug characteristics that may provide therapeutic benefit. 
2. AbCellera Biologics (ABCL): UP 11.7% w/e July 18th; UP 24.1% MTD
   • Focus: searches for antibodies from natural immune responses which are then outsourced to their partners. 
3. Recursion Pharmaceuticals (RXRX): UP 10.6% w/e July 18th; UP 16.1% MTD
   • Focus:: decodes biology by integrating technological innovations to industrialize drug discovery 

On the other hand, the remaining 2 stocks performed as follows and for the following reason(s):

1. Schrödinger (SDGR): UP 2.1% w/e July 18th; UP 4.1% MTD
   • Focus::uses its platform to discover novel molecules which it leverages to build a pipeline of its own clinical programs in addition to selling access to its platform to other pharmaceutical firms 
   • Reason(s) For Price Change:
     • Mixed Analyst Sentiment: While firms like KeyCorp and Morgan Stanley issued coverage and price targets around $30, others maintained Hold ratings, tempering enthusiasm
2. Relay Therapeutics (RLAY): DOWN 2.8% w/e July 18th; UP 6.1% MTD
   • Focus: uses its platform to enhance small molecule therapeutic discovery in targeted oncology and genetic disease indications 
   • Reason(s) For Price Change:​​​​​​​
     • Insider Selling: CEO Sanjiv Patel sold 61,379 shares between July 10–11 which, while not necessarily negative, can dampen investor sentiment, especially in small-cap biotech.
     • Profit-Taking: RLAY had rallied earlier in July, gaining over 5.6% on July 16 and the subsequent drop may reflect short-term traders locking in profits after the bounce.
     • No New Clinical Data or Earnings: Unlike peers like Absci or Schrödinger, Relay didn’t release fresh trial results or earnings during the week, leaving investors with little new information to support the stock.

Summary

On average, the 5 constituents were UP 5.0% w/e July 18th and are now UP 9.2% MTD.

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