Variant Bio Launches AI Platform for Drug Discovery Using Genetic Data

The platform, called Inference, applies artificial intelligence to analyze proprietary and public human genomic data from global studies, along with other large-scale biological datasets, to support drug discovery efforts.

Variant Bio, a private biotech firm, has launched an artificial intelligence-powered platform that uses genetic data to discover new drug candidates for potential entry into human trials.

The platform, called Inference, applies artificial intelligence to analyze proprietary and public human genomic data from global studies, along with other large-scale biological datasets, to support drug discovery efforts.

Variant Bio said the Inference platform uses agentic AI, or autonomous artificial intelligence systems, designed to operate with minimal human intervention while identifying potential drug targets.

The launch comes as drug developers increasingly adopt artificial intelligence for discovery and safety trials to achieve faster and more cost-effective outcomes, alongside a broader push by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to reduce animal testing in the near future.

Separately, Variant Bio announced a multi-year research collaboration and license agreement with Boehringer Ingelheim to discover drugs for kidney disease using the Inference platform.

Under the agreement, Variant Bio will receive an upfront payment and will be eligible for potential license and milestone payments totaling more than $120 million.

The company said the Inference platform is now available to research partners and that it has entered collaborations with several pharmaceutical companies in deals totaling more than $200 million.

The development follows similar moves in the industry, including Eli Lilly’s launch last year of its artificial intelligence and machine learning platform TuneLab, aimed at providing biotech firms access to drug discovery models trained on its research data.

Several drugmakers have also announced collaborations to share proprietary data for training artificial intelligence models to support drug discovery and development.

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