Accenture's Investment in Turbine Enhances AI-Powered Cell Simulations for Biopharma R&D

Accenture has strategically invested in Turbine, a company specializing in predictive simulation with a platform aimed at interpreting human biology. This investment, managed through Accenture Ventures, is set to expand Turbine's capabilities, offering significant advantages to global biopharma companies. Turbine’s platform can uncover hidden biological insights, potentially accelerating key drug development processes.

Turbine’s Simulated Cell™ platform, the core of its technology, employs machine learning to analyze human cell behavior. It models molecular interactions within and around cells, facilitating virtual experiments on a scale unattainable in physical settings. This approach reveals mechanisms underlying diseases and therapeutic responses, which can guide drug development.

Tom Lounibos, global lead of Accenture Ventures, highlighted the importance of advanced technology in biopharma:

“Advanced technology and digital capabilities are clearly becoming substantial differentiators in the biopharma industry, and the future of drug discovery will be powered by AI. [...] Turbine’s AI-based platform has clearly demonstrated the ability to unlock high-quality biological insights for our clients across the biopharma industry.”

The platform's effectiveness is being validated with leading pharmaceutical companies to identify promising drug targets, select optimal patient populations for therapies, and determine beneficial combination therapy regimens. This can lead to the discovery of treatments and identification of drugs that might otherwise fail in clinical trials.

Szabolcs Nagy, co-founder and CEO of Turbine, pointed out that AI's role in drug discovery is often limited by the challenge of sourcing diverse and comprehensive ground truth data. He explained that Turbine's platform can learn fundamental biological rules from in vitro experiments and apply them to diverse patient populations. This capability makes it superior to traditional wet lab models, which are less scalable and often biased. With Accenture's support, Turbine aims to expand its market reach and enhance its simulation platform for the biopharma industry.

See also: 17 Companies Building the Future of Drug Development on a Chip

Turbine joins Accenture Ventures’ Project Spotlight, an initiative focusing on companies with disruptive enterprise technologies. This program provides startups with access to Accenture’s expertise and enterprise clients, fostering innovation and technological advancement. Other digital simulation companies in Project Spotlight include QuantHealth, Virtonomy, and Ocean Genomics.

Topics: Biotech Companies