AI-powered drug discovery will be trained on natural ingredients to create novel longevity-focused nutraceuticals.

New Zealand-based nutraceutical longevity brand SRW Laboratories, has announced it has joined forces with the clinical stage AI drug discovery company, Insilico Medicine. The partnership aims to leverage AI technology to develop state-of-the-art longevity products, with the aim of extending healthspan.

Longevity.Technology: There are numerous diseases associated with aging, and many of them were previously regarded as inevitable; however, things change, and many age-related diseases are now being increasingly recognized as manifestations of cellular aging. Substantial investments in geroscience, the field working to delay the onset of age-related conditions by mitigating cellular degradation, are partly to thank for this.

This paradigm shift in mindset – that aging must be tackled, rather than just accepted – is backed by significant research progress. Scientists have now identified numerous cellular pathways associated with the aging process, and the discovery of more than 100 molecules that have the potential to slow or even reverse the aging process is focusing attention on the space. AI is playing a key role in scaling longevity, involved in drug discovery, LLM platforms, data capture and modeling, and more, and its incorporation into the nutraceutical sector is enabling the synergy of scientific and technological advancements and facilitating the development of new formulations with increased efficiency.

“Slowing aging and increasing the number of healthy years in our lives is at the forefront of our combined mission,” said SRW Founder, Greg Macpherson.

“Our partnership with Insilico gives us the ability to screen tens of thousands of natural molecules and compounds, assessing their capabilities in promoting healthy aging and extending healthspan, at a speed never before available in the nutraceutical space. We are tremendously honoured to partner with them in this joint endeavour.”

Under the partnership, SRW will benefit from access to Insilico’s proprietary end-to-end Pharma.AI platform, which analyzes massive quantities of data to find new connections between biological processes and disease, design new therapeutics and predict the outcomes of clinical trials.

Insilico has raised over $400 million in funding from various investors and partnered with numerous pharmaceutical companies, including a multi-target collaboration with Sanofi worth up to $1.2 billion. The global gains from decelerating aging are enormous – an estimated $37 trillion for each added year of lifespan that promises to bolster productivity, escalate economic spending and alleviate the increasing strain on healthcare systems.

“Aging is a universal issue, and one that we’re closer than ever to solving,” said Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, co-CEO and founder of Insilico.

“We’ve been utilising our technology to increase output in the pharmaceutical space for years, but this is the first time we’re turning our attention to the natural supplement sector. We’re excited to help SRW make huge strides in analysing which compounds are the most effective and bring them to market. Extending the number of healthy years in a person’s life is a very motivating mission.”

By 2050, the global demographic will see 2 billion people over 60 [1]; with approximately half of this population set to grapple with costly health conditions that impact their productivity, healthspan and lifespan, the time to do something about their future longevity is now.

The introduction of AI is revolutionizing the pace of development in this sector; advanced AI allows for rapid drug discovery, where deep learning establishes robust frameworks. Within the SRW/Insilico partnership, AI will be deployed to concentrate on natural products, already recognized for their efficacy and safety, and merge them to support healthspan extension.

The SRW and Insilico partnership represents a significant collaboration within the natural supplement category. The partnership is already active, and SRW hopes to unveil its first AI-assisted product suite in 2024.

[1] https://www.who.int/news-room/fact-sheets/detail/ageing-and-health