How 10x Genomics Is Fixing the AI ​​Data Bottleneck

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ANDartificial intelligence continued to make progress in biology, with new tools and models capable of generating steady improvements in some important research tasks. Deepmind, for example, recently released Alpha-Fold 3which had significantly better accuracy in predicting protein structure compared to its predecessor. Several drugs discovered using AI tools are already in the clinicit is possible that the first regulatory approvals will be issued in the next few years.

Main neck In the case of AI, however, the field lacks the data needed to train these models, such as gene and protein sequences from a wide range of species. But Sergei Saxonovco-founder and CEO of a sequencing company 10x Genomicssays Forbes that its customers are increasingly trying to change that by using the company’s products to generate huge amounts of this type biological data.

Saxonov adds that the emergence of this generation of AI is timely, as recent advances in gene sequencing and analysis have led to data explosion that would have been hard to swallow even a few years ago. “The key challenge that we’ve always worried about from the beginning is that you can alleviate that bottleneck of generating data, but now you’re creating a new bottleneck that actually deals with data,” he said. “And the emergence of these AI approaches that are actually hungry for more data is starting to alleviate that bottleneck.”

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The Next Billion-Dollar Healthcare Startups

For the 10th year in a row, Forbes partnered with TrueBridge Capital Partners to find the 25 venture-backed companies in the U.S. most likely to reach a $1 billion valuation. Of the 225 graduates on the list, 131, or 58%, became unicorns, including DoorDash, Figma, Anduril, Benchling and Rippling. This year’s list includes several healthcare startups. San Diego-based Equip offers virtual treatment for eating disorders. Los Angeles-based Midi Health offers virtual care for menopause. And San Francisco-based EvenUp is a tool for personal injury law firms to write demand letters.

You can find more information here.

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Pipeline and Transaction Updates

AI Writers: Kaiser Permanente announced that the health system will make Abridge’s AI medical note-taking software available systemwide to more than 24,000 physicians. A spokesperson declined to say how many physicians are currently using the tool, other than to say it is “now available to primary care providers in all markets,” including physicians, physician assistants and mental health providers. Permanente Medical Group previously contracted with Abridge competitor Nabla for its physicians in Northern California, but a spokesperson confirmed that Abridge will now be the sole provider. Nabla said Forbes generated 1.5 million positive-review appointments for Kaiser Permanente. Kaiser Permanente Ventures invested in Abridge’s Series B funding round last year.

Liver disease:The FDA has granted accelerated approval to seladelpar, marketed by Gilead as Livdelzi, for the treatment of certain patients with the autoimmune liver disease primary cholangitis.

Drug discovery using artificial intelligence:AI drug discovery company Absci has announced a collaboration with Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to develop new treatments for certain types of cancer.

MOTHER: Speaking of AI in drug discovery, Recursion and Exscientia, which focuses on using AI to develop new drugs, announced a merger agreement, pending shareholder and regulatory approval. In the combined company, current Recursion shareholders will own about 74%, with Exscientia owning the remaining 26%.

Oncology:The FDA announced that it has approved denileukin difitox-csdl, marketed by Citius Pharmaceuticals under the name Lymphir, for the treatment of certain cutaneous T-cell lymphomas.

Kidney disease: The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted accelerated approval to iptacopan, marketed by Novartis as Fabhalta, for the treatment of a chronic kidney disease called primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy.

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WHO Declares Mpox a Public Health Threat – Here’s What You Need to Know

The World Health Organization declared an international health emergency Wednesday over the growing mpox epidemic in Africa, joining the continent’s top public health authority. The agency warned that the disease could grow without immediate action to contain it, stoking fears that a deadlier mpox pandemic could be on the horizon. It is the second time the agency has declared a global mpox epidemic: The WHO declared a PHEIC in July 2022 and lifted the designation about a year later, in May 2023.

You can find more information here.

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What else are we reading?

Eli Lilly’s Billions: Will the World’s Most Valuable Pharmaceutical Company Be Able to Keep Creating Drugs at This Rate? (STAT)

Five ways science is tackling the antibiotic resistance crisis (Nature)

Robots, AI Aim to Lower Cost of In Vitro Fertilization (Bloomberg)