Isomorphic Labs prepares for its first human trials with drugs designed by AlphaFold

Isomorphic Labs, a DeepMind spin-off focused on drug discovery, is getting ready for its first clinical trials with drugs designed using AlphaFold-based AI models.

"We're staffing up now. We're getting very close," said Colin Murdoch, President of Isomorphic Labs and Chief Business Officer at DeepMind, in an interview with Fortune.

The company wants to overhaul the traditionally slow and expensive process of drug development, with anti-cancer drugs already in the pipeline. Isomorphic Labs has signed agreements with Eli Lilly and Novartis, and in 2025 closed a USD 600 million investment round led by Thrive Capital.

Looking ahead, Isomorphic Labs has even bigger ambitions for AI in medicine. "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.