Insilico Medicine, a tech-bio company, announced that its AI-discovered drug, rentosertib, which is being developed to treat an age-related lung disease, has shown anti-aging properties in a mid-stage study. The drug helped reduce biological age as measured by six different aging clocks, with some patients experiencing up to a 6-year reversal in biological age, particularly in the 30 mg BID group at week 4. This study, published in Nature Biotechnology, represents the first clinical evaluation of a drug candidate that used AI for both target discovery and molecule design, rather than repurposing existing drugs.
The findings were discussed by Insilico Medicine's Founder and Co-CEO, Alex Zhavoronkov, on Bloomberg’s The China Show. The study involved analyzing longitudinal Olink proteomic data from 42 IPF patients and was conducted in collaboration with institutions like Harvard Medical School and Stanford University. Notably, all six independently developed proteomic aging clocks consistently indicated a reduction in predicted biological age among treated patients, with Nobel laureate Michael Levitt highlighting the agreement across models as convincing evidence.
Financially, Insilico Medicine reported significant growth, with total revenue of approximately $106 million in the first half of 2026, marking a 287% year-over-year increase. The company achieved its first profitable half-year, with an adjusted net profit exceeding $51 million. This success was driven by various collaborations and out-licensing deals, pushing the cumulative contract value of its major collaborations since 2021 to approximately $11 billion. The company emphasizes a dual-purpose therapeutic strategy, aiming for drugs that treat age-related diseases while also demonstrating geroprotective effects, opening up a potential multi-trillion dollar market.
