First-of-its-Kind AI/Pharma and Computational Biology Innovation Lab Appoints Former Senior Pharma Executive as CEO and Senior Computational Scientist as CTO
AION Labs, a first-of-its-kind innovation lab spearheading the adoption of AI technologies and computational science to solve therapeutic challenges, announced its official launch and the opening of its international headquarters.
The alliance of four leading pharmaceutical companies – AstraZeneca, Merck, Pfizer and Teva – and two leaders in the hi-tech and biotech investment sphere , respectively – Amazon Web Services Inc. (AWS) and Israel Biotech Fund (IBF) – who have come together with the aim of building groundbreaking AI and computational ventures that will leverage the cloud to transform how new therapies are discovered and developed. The launch of this consortium of global leaders follows the winning of a government tender to establish an Innovation Lab in December 2020 after the Israel Innovation Authority identified life sciences as a vital area for growth potential and investment.
AION Labs will create and invest in early-stage start-up teams focused on AI and computational biology in drug discovery and development, offering each of them top-notch resources and mentorship while working closely with them to develop new technologies that meet the most acute and significant challenges in the pharmaceutical industry. Each start-up will harness the power of artificial intelligence, and scale and security of the cloud, to find new treatments faster and more efficiently, avoid animal experiments, and advance healthcare towards patient-centric precision medicine.
AION Labs also announced that Mati Gill, a former senior executive at Teva Pharmaceuticals, has been appointed CEO of the lab, and former head of computational biology at Compugen and science operations at CytoReason and principal scientist at MSD, Yair Benita, Ph.D., has been appointed CTO.
“We are excited to launch our new Innovation Lab for new drug and device discoveries,” said Mati Gill, CEO of AION Labs. “Our R&D needs-based approach, coupled with our outstanding alliance, is poised to transform the process of therapeutic discovery and development. With a strong talent pool, AI technology at our core and a significant commitment of the Israeli government, we hope to contribute to the health and well-being of humankind. I’m honored to lead such a meaningful initiative, and to work closely with our consortium members to solve many of the world’s critical health issues.”
In addition, AION Labs has announced its strategic partnership with BioMed X, an independent biomedical research institute based in Heidelberg, Germany. BioMed X has a strong track record of seeding biomedical innovations at the interface between academic research and the pharmaceutical industry. BioMed X’s innovation model, based on global crowdsourcing and local incubation of the brightest research talents and ideas, will serve as the R&D engine to propel AION Lab’s venture creation model.
“We are excited to extend our successful innovation model to Israel,” said Christian Tidona, Founder and Managing Director of BioMed X. “In our view, Israel is currently the best place to jointly leverage the power of artificial intelligence for drug discovery and development together with leading global players in pharmaceuticals, tech and venture capital.”
AION Labs will include both a wet lab, where biomedical research will be performed, and a cloud-based computational lab environment, focusing on the development of new algorithms and computational methods with the aim of accelerating the discovery and development of potential new therapies.
Both will be under the guidance of top senior researchers and experts from AION Labs’ partners.