Google Gemini pioneer Demis Hassabis is applying AI to drug discovery

Demis Hassabis, known for AlphaFold 2 and his role leading Google's AI efforts, founded Isomorphic Labs to use AI to design drugs; the company has raised large funding rounds but has not yet advanced a drug into clinical trials.

Demis Hassabis, the cofounder of DeepMind and a leader of Google's AI operations, has shifted a significant portion of his time toward applying AI to drug discovery. His earlier work includes AlphaFold 2, an AI system that predicts protein structures and won a 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. In 2021 he founded Isomorphic Labs with Alphabet backing to build a structure-first, AI-driven drug-design engine. The company aims to create a systematic, repeatable process for discovering and optimizing medicines, but it has not yet moved a drug into clinical trials. Key facts: - AlphaFold 2 can predict three-dimensional protein structures from DNA sequences and its developers, including Hassabis and John Jumper, were awarded the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. - Isomorphic Labs was founded in 2021 with Alphabet funding and raised an additional $600 million in a March 2025 Series A led by Thrive Capital; the company has roughly 300 employees. - The startup is building a proprietary drug-design engine that uses updated protein models and additional models for peptides, molecular glues, and antibodies, and it incorporates data from public and licensed sources and partners. - Isomorphic has partnerships with pharmaceutical companies including Eli Lilly and Novartis and says it is moving toward clinical trials but declines to give a timeline. - Drug discovery remains costly and slow, with high failure rates and long clinical timelines; AlphaFold addressed part of the preclinical process but does not eliminate later-stage clinical and safety requirements. Summary: Isomorphic Labs seeks to use AI to shorten parts of the drug-discovery timeline by improving molecular and structural predictions, building on the AlphaFold breakthrough. The company has secured substantial funding and industry partnerships and is preparing for human trials, but a firm timeline for advancing a drug into clinical testing is undetermined at this time.