Google DeepMind's Isomorphic Labs Prepares for Human Trials of AI-Designed Drugs

Reviewed byNidhi Govil

2 Sources

Isomorphic Labs, a subsidiary of Google DeepMind, is on the brink of conducting human trials for drugs designed using artificial intelligence, potentially revolutionizing the pharmaceutical industry.

Isomorphic Labs: Pioneering AI-Driven Drug Discovery

Isomorphic Labs, a subsidiary of Google DeepMind, is on the cusp of a significant breakthrough in the pharmaceutical industry. The company is preparing to commence human trials for drugs designed using artificial intelligence, marking a potential revolution in drug discovery and development 1.

Colin Murdoch, President of Isomorphic Labs and Chief Business Officer of Google DeepMind, revealed that the company is "getting very close" to initiating clinical trials. "The next big milestone is actually going out to clinical trials, starting to put these things into human beings," Murdoch stated in an interview 1.

Source: Fortune

Source: Fortune

The Genesis of Isomorphic Labs

Isomorphic Labs was spun out of DeepMind in 2021, building upon the success of AlphaFold, an AI system capable of accurately predicting protein structures. The evolution of AlphaFold to model protein interactions with other molecules like DNA and drugs became the cornerstone for Isomorphic Labs' ambitious mission 1.

Source: Digit

Source: Digit

Strategic Partnerships and Funding

The company has made significant strides in establishing itself as a key player in the AI-driven pharmaceutical landscape:

  1. In 2024, Isomorphic Labs signed major research collaborations with pharmaceutical giants Novartis and Eli Lilly 1.
  2. In April 2025, the company secured $600 million in its first external funding round, led by Thrive Capital 2.

The AI-Powered Drug Design Engine

Isomorphic Labs is developing what Murdoch calls a "world-class drug design engine." This system combines the expertise of machine learning researchers with experienced pharmaceutical scientists to design new medicines more efficiently 2.

The company's approach is twofold:

  1. Supporting existing drug programs of pharmaceutical partners.
  2. Designing internal drug candidates, particularly in oncology and immunology, with the aim of licensing them out after early-stage trials 1.

Revolutionizing the Drug Discovery Process

Traditional drug development is often a lengthy, expensive process with a high failure rate. Murdoch believes that Isomorphic's AI technology could dramatically improve these odds:

  1. Accelerating the drug discovery process
  2. Reducing development costs
  3. Increasing the chances of success in human trials

The ultimate goal is to reach a point where researchers have 100% conviction that the drugs they are developing will work in human trials 1.

Future Aspirations

Murdoch envisions a future where drug discovery becomes as simple as identifying a disease and using AI tools to generate a drug design. "One day we hope to be able to say -- well, here's a disease, and then click a button and out pops the design for a drug to address that disease," he stated 2.

As Isomorphic Labs prepares for its first human trials, the pharmaceutical industry watches with keen interest. If successful, this AI-driven approach could usher in a new era of drug discovery, potentially accelerating the development of treatments for a wide range of diseases.

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