LinkedIn (MSFT-2.11%) co-founder and venture capitalist Reid Hoffman on Monday launched an AI startup aimed at discovering new treatments for cancer.
Manas AI will use a proprietary AI-driven platform to help speed up the drug discovery process, from identifying potential drug candidates with “paradigm-shifting speed and accuracy” all the way to clinical trials, Hoffman said in a press release. The company is initially focusing on treatments for breast cancer, prostate cancer, and lymphoma. Eventually, it intends to target other autoimmune diseases and rare conditions.
“AI will have a lasting and positive impact on humanity, and for years I have been focused on helping realize the potential of this technology,” Hoffman said. “Manas AI is breaking down barriers that have slowed medical innovation for decades, which will lead to exponential positive impact in our ability to treat human disease.”
Manas AI already has raised nearly $25 million in funding in a seed round led by the investment firm General Catalyst and with help from Greylock and other investors in the life sciences and technology sectors. Hoffman also invested his own money into the company.
The startup has also established a partnership with Microsoft to use the tech-giant’s cloud computing platform.
Hoffman co-founded Manas AI with cancer researcher Dr. Siddhartha Mukherjee, the author of the Pulitzer Prize-winning The Emperor of all Maladies: A Biography of Cancer.
“Our mission is simple yet profound: to transform how we discover and develop life-saving medicines,” Mukherjee said in the release. “Through the power of AI and our world-class team, we believe we can drastically reduce the time and cost it takes to bring game-changing new treatments to patients.”
Manas AI joins a wave of tech companies that plan to use AI for drug discovery.
Google DeepMind (GOOGL-4.46%) CEO Demis Hassabis said last week that drugs developed by Alphabet’s drug discovery subsidiary and designed by artificial intelligence are expected to head to trial by the end of the year.
– William Gavin contributed to this report.
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