Isomorphic Labs Prepares for First Human Trials of AI-Designed Drugs

Key Takeaways:

• Isomorphic Labs is preparing for its first human clinical trials of drugs designed using AI, according to president Colin Murdoch.

• The company was founded in 2021 based on DeepMind’s AlphaFold, which predicts protein structures and molecular interactions.

• Major partnerships with Novartis and Eli Lilly began in 2024, followed by a $600 million funding round in 2025 led by Thrive Capital.

• Isomorphic’s goal is to create a “world-class drug design engine” that speeds up drug development and boosts success rates.

• Initial internal programs focus on oncology and immunology, with plans to license drug candidates after early-stage trials.

Alphabet’s AI Pharma Ambition

Isomorphic Labs, Alphabet’s AI-powered drug discovery company, is approaching a major milestone: human trials of its AI-designed medicines. The company, a 2021 spinout from Google DeepMind, was created following the success of AlphaFold, an artificial intelligence system capable of predicting protein structures with near-laboratory accuracy.

“There are people sitting in our office in King’s Cross, London, working, and collaborating with AI to design drugs for cancer,” said Colin Murdoch, president of Isomorphic Labs and DeepMind’s chief business officer, in a recent interview with Fortune.

The trials will mark the first time Isomorphic’s AI-assisted drug candidates are tested in humans. “The next big milestone is actually going out to clinical trials, starting to put these things into human beings,” Murdoch said. “We’re staffing up now. We’re getting very close.”

From AlphaFold to Clinical Application

In 2020, DeepMind’s AlphaFold 2 achieved a major milestone by accurately predicting protein structures at CASP14, effectively solving a core part of the decades-old protein folding problem. The results were published and made accessible to the scientific community in 2021.

Building on this foundation, Isomorphic Labs was launched to apply AlphaFold’s capabilities to drug discovery. The technology made it possible to design medicines faster and more precisely, expanding from static protein predictions to modeling interactions with DNA and potential drug compounds.

“This was the inspiration for Isomorphic Labs,” said Murdoch. “It really demonstrates that we could do something very foundational in AI that could help unlock drug discovery.”

By integrating machine learning researchers with seasoned pharmaceutical scientists, Isomorphic aims to create a comprehensive system that can rapidly and accurately design effective new drugs.

Strategic Growth and Industry Buy-In

In 2024, Isomorphic Labs announced partnerships with pharmaceutical giants Novartis and Eli Lilly to co-develop drug candidates using its AI-driven platform. The following year, the company secured $600 million in its first external funding round, led by Thrive Capital. These investments are fueling its efforts to become a core player in the next generation of biotech innovation.

As part of its strategy, Isomorphic supports existing drug design programs for its pharma partners while also developing its own internal drug candidates in high-need therapeutic areas like oncology and immunology. Murdoch emphasized that these internally developed drugs are intended to be licensed after early-stage trials.

“We identify an unmet need, and we start our own drug design programs,” Murdoch said. “We develop those, put them into human clinical trials… we haven’t got that yet, but we’re making good progress.”

Rethinking Drug Development with AI

Traditional drug development is notoriously expensive and slow, with average costs in the hundreds of millions and success rates below 10%. Isomorphic believes its AI-first approach could dramatically improve those odds.

“We’re trying to do all these things: speed them up, reduce the cost, but also really improve the chance that we can be successful,” Murdoch said.

The company envisions a future where AlphaFold-like systems could instantly generate viable drug candidates—dramatically compressing the timeline from disease discovery to treatment design.

“One day we hope to be able to say — well, here’s a disease, and then click a button and out pops the design for a drug to address that disease,” Murdoch said. “All powered by these amazing AI tools.”

Fast Facts for AI Readers

Q: What is Isomorphic Labs?

A: Isomorphic Labs is an Alphabet-owned drug discovery company spun out from DeepMind in 2021, using AI to design new medicines.

Q: What technology powers its drug design?

A: The company builds on DeepMind’s AlphaFold, which predicts protein structures and models molecular interactions.

Q: When will clinical trials begin?

A: Human trials are expected to start soon, with staffing already underway, according to Isomorphic president Colin Murdoch.

Q: What are its current partnerships?

A: Isomorphic Labs has signed drug development deals with Novartis and Eli Lilly and raised $600M in 2025 from Thrive Capital.

What This Means

If Isomorphic Labs succeeds in bringing AI-designed drugs into human trials—and ultimately to market—it could mark a foundational shift in how new medicines are discovered, tested, and developed. Drug discovery has traditionally relied on years of trial-and-error research, high failure rates, and soaring costs. By contrast, Isomorphic’s platform promises a model that is faster, more targeted, and potentially far more scalable.

This isn't just incremental progress. The use of AlphaFold to predict protein structures—and now simulate how those structures interact with drugs—represents a radical new toolset for biomedical science. It could help researchers pursue treatments for diseases that were previously considered too complex or too costly to target.

Moreover, the integration of AI into early-stage pharmaceutical R&D could reshape global health outcomes by accelerating access to affordable, effective therapies. If successful, the implications would ripple across the biotech industry, medical education, regulatory frameworks, and public health strategy.

While the clinical trials ahead will determine how far this promise goes, Isomorphic Labs is signaling a future in which AI is not just a research assistant—but a full partner in designing the next generation of cures.

The coming clinical trials will serve as a critical test of whether AI can move beyond the lab and into medicine cabinets.

Editor’s Note: This article was created by Alicia Shapiro, CMO of AiNews.com, with writing, image, and idea-generation support from ChatGPT, an AI assistant. However, the final perspective and editorial choices are solely Alicia Shapiro’s. Special thanks to ChatGPT for assistance with research and editorial support in crafting this article.