Exscientia PLC is a British-based drug discovery company that uses artificial intelligence (AI) to accelerate the process of discovering new medicines. The company was founded in 2012 by Andrew Hopkins and is headquartered in Oxford, England. Exscientia claims to be the world's first AI-driven drug discovery company, with a mission to design new drugs faster, more efficiently, and with higher success rates than traditional methods.
The company uses AI to automate the drug discovery process, including target identification, drug design, and lead optimization. By using algorithms to analyze large amounts of data, Exscientia can generate more effective and precise drug candidates in a shorter amount of time. This approach allows for a more targeted approach to drug discovery, which can result in safer, more effective treatments.
Exscientia's AI-driven drug discovery platform combines several technologies, including machine learning, deep learning, and genetic algorithms, to help identify and optimize promising drug candidates. The company also has partnerships with several pharmaceutical companies, including Sanofi, GSK, and Celgene, to use its platform in drug discovery programs.
In 2018, Exscientia made headlines when it announced that it had used its AI platform to discover a new drug candidate for the treatment of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD). The company also recently raised $60 million in a funding round led by Novo Holdings, with participation from several other investors, to support its ongoing research and development efforts.