The future of drug discovery is rapidly approaching a pivotal moment. Alphabet's ambitious pharmaceutical venture, Isomorphic Labs, is positioning itself to begin human clinical trials of medications designed entirely through artificial intelligence, marking a potentially transformative shift in how we develop life-saving treatments.
Colin Murdoch, the company's president and Google DeepMind's chief business officer, recently revealed that this groundbreaking milestone is closer than ever. "There are people sitting in our office in King's Cross, London, working, and collaborating with AI to design drugs for cancer," Murdoch explained during a recent interview in Paris. "That's happening right now."
Isomorphic Labs emerged from one of DeepMind's most celebrated achievements: AlphaFold, an AI system that revolutionized our understanding of protein structures. When AlphaFold first demonstrated its ability to predict protein folding with remarkable accuracy, it solved a decades-old biological puzzle that had stumped scientists for generations.
The journey from academic breakthrough to pharmaceutical application has been swift and impressive. AlphaFold's capabilities have evolved dramatically since its initial protein structure predictions. The system now models complex interactions between proteins and other molecules, including DNA and potential drug compounds. This expanded functionality transformed AlphaFold from a research tool into a powerful engine for drug discovery.
"This was the inspiration for Isomorphic Labs," Murdoch noted, referring to AlphaFold's foundational role. "It really demonstrates that we could do something very foundational in AI that could help unlock drug discovery."
The company officially spun out from DeepMind in 2021, coinciding with the release of AlphaFold 3, which further enhanced the system's ability to model molecular interactions crucial for drug development.
Recognizing the complexity of bringing AI-designed drugs to market, Isomorphic Labs has strategically aligned itself with established pharmaceutical giants. In 2024, the company signed major research collaborations with Novartis and Eli Lilly, two of the world's leading pharmaceutical companies.
These partnerships represent more than simple business arrangements; they provide Isomorphic with access to decades of drug development expertise while offering established pharma companies cutting-edge AI capabilities. The collaborations allow Isomorphic to support existing drug programs while simultaneously developing its own internal candidates in critical areas such as oncology and immunology.
The strategic approach has proven attractive to investors. In April 2025, Isomorphic Labs successfully raised $600 million in its first external funding round, led by Thrive Capital. This substantial investment demonstrates confidence in the company's vision and provides the resources necessary to advance from laboratory research to human trials.
The current pharmaceutical landscape presents significant challenges. Traditional drug development is notoriously expensive, time-consuming, and prone to failure. Companies routinely spend millions of dollars attempting to bring a single drug to market, often facing success rates as low as 10% once clinical trials begin.
Murdoch believes Isomorphic's technology could fundamentally alter these statistics. "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," he explains. The ultimate goal is ambitious: achieving 100% conviction that drugs developed through their AI system will succeed in human trials.
This vision extends beyond incremental improvements to existing processes. Murdoch envisions a future where drug discovery becomes as straightforward as identifying a disease and allowing AI to generate the corresponding treatment. "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," he said. "All powered by these amazing AI tools."
As Isomorphic Labs prepares for its first human trials, the company is rapidly expanding its capabilities and workforce. "The next big milestone is actually going out to clinical trials, starting to put these things into human beings," Murdoch explained. "We're staffing up now. We're getting very close."
The company's approach combines machine learning researchers with pharmaceutical veterans to create what Murdoch describes as a "world-class drug design engine." This hybrid model leverages the computational power of AI while incorporating the practical expertise necessary to navigate complex regulatory requirements and clinical trial processes.
The potential impact of successful AI-designed drugs extends far beyond pharmaceutical profits. If Isomorphic Labs can deliver on its promise of faster, cheaper, and more effective drug development, it could democratize access to life-saving treatments and accelerate progress against diseases that have long resisted traditional approaches.
The company's focus on cancer and immunology represents strategic choices in areas with significant unmet medical needs. Success in these challenging therapeutic areas could establish AI-designed drugs as a viable alternative to traditional development methods.
As Isomorphic Labs stands on the threshold of human trials, the pharmaceutical industry watches with keen interest. The company's journey from DeepMind's research laboratory to the brink of clinical application represents a remarkable acceleration in translating AI breakthroughs into practical medical solutions.
The coming months will reveal whether Isomorphic Labs can fulfill its ambitious vision of solving diseases through artificial intelligence, potentially ushering in a new era of drug discovery that could transform healthcare for millions of patients worldwide.
