英矽智能与汇丰签署循环贷款，总额高达1亿美元

10月23日，全球领先由生成式AI驱动的生物科技公司英矽智能，与全球最大银行及金融服务机构之一的汇丰签署高达1亿美元的循环贷款。汇丰提供的定制化融资方案为英矽智能的全球多中心业务发展持续赋能，助力企业进一步扩大创新发展优势，为大湾区经济繁荣成长贡献积极力量。

英矽智能致力以前沿AI技术推动医疗健康领域发展，实现早期药物研发降本增效，以更高的效率和质量满足未竟临床需求。汇丰透过旗下新经济信贷基金向英矽智能提供最高1亿美元的授信额度，资金将用于支持英矽智能自有创新药物研发管线的拓展和端到端多元化AI平台Pharma.AI的升级优化 。

英矽智能联合首席执行官兼首席科学官任峰博士表示：“汇丰拥有覆盖全球的网络、多元化的业务支持和强劲的创新和财务实力，是英矽智能全球化发展不可或缺的重要合作伙伴。在汇丰跨境业务、付款及数码方案等业务支持下，英矽智能将立足香港区域总部，整合各地区的区位优势，大力推动公司全球化业务进程。”

汇丰香港工商金融董事总经理兼商业金融主管区佩君表示，“生物技术结合人工智能具备深厚潜力，可以为药物研发和发展带来前所未见的改变，从而令大众更容易获取所需的医疗保健。银行为创新的生物科技公司提供跨境融资方案，有助支持科学创新和推动社会福祉。汇丰将继续把握独有的优势，透过广大的环球网络，以及在融资范畴的专业知识，为先进科技企业提供专门的支持。”

根据弗若斯特沙利文发表的市场报告，创新药市场规模预计将在2025年达到5260亿美元，复合年增长率为3.4%。在一款新药的研发成本仍未摆脱“十年十亿美金”魔咒的当下，创新药产业亟需人工智能等前沿技术打破瓶颈，更需要真实案例和概念验证来巩固信心。

October 23, 2024 --- Insilico Medicine(“Insilico”), a global leading generative artificial intelligence (AI)-driven biotechnology company, today announced it has signed a Revolving Loan Facility of up to US$100 million with HSBC, one of the world's largest banks and financial services institutions. HSBC’s customized financing solution will support Insilico’s global development centered on multiple sites, as well as the expansion of innovative advantages, thus driving the economy growth in the Greater Bay Area. 

Insilico is committed to driving advancements in healthcare using cutting-edge AI technology, reducing costs and improving efficiency in early-stage drug development, and meeting unmet clinical needs with higher efficiency and quality. The credit line, provided from HSBC New Economy Fund, will support the expansion of Insilico's proprietary novel drug discovery pipeline and the upgrade of its end-to-end diversified AI platform, Pharma.AI.

“HSBC is a key partner in the global development of Insilico, with its global network coverage, diversified business support, strong innovation and financial strength”, says Feng Ren, PhD, Co-CEO and Chief Scientific Officer of Insilico Medicine. "With HSBC's support in cross-border business, payment and digital solution, Insilico will take its Hong Kong headquarter as a starting point to integrate the advantages of various regions and accelerate the company's global business process."

Anita Ou, Managing Director, Head of Enterprise Banking, Commercial Banking, Hong Kong, HSBC, said, "The combination of biotech and AI technology holds the potential to revolutionize drug discovery and development while enhancing access to healthcare. By providing cross-border financing solution to innovative biotech firms, banks not only support scientific breakthroughs but also fuel societal well-being. Leveraging our extensive global network and financing expertise, HSBC is uniquely positioned to provide unparalleled support for these forward-thinking companies."

According to a Frost & Sullivan report, the innovative drug market is expected to reach $526 billion by 2025, with a compound annual growth rate of 3.4%. Today, a novel drug is still expected to cost 10 years and $1 billion, calling for ground-breaking technologies including artificial intelligence to break through the bottlenecks. The biopharma industry is in even more urgent need for real-life cases and proof of concepts to stay confident.

In 2016, Insilico first described the concept of using generative AI for the design of novel molecules in a peer-reviewed journal, which laid the foundation for the commercially available Pharma.AI platform. In 2019. Insilico Medicine established office in Hong Kong Science and Technology Park (HKSTP), building target discovery and platform application teams to empower research collaborations with top research institutes including the University of Cambridge, the University of Hong Kong, the University of Zurich, and the University of Toronto. Since then, Insilico keeps integrating technical breakthroughs into Pharma.AI platform, which is currently a generative AI-powered solution spanning across biology, chemistry and clinical development. Powered by Pharma.AI, Insilico has nominated 19 preclinical candidates in its comprehensive portfolio of over 30 assets since 2021 and has received IND approval for 9 molecules.

In early 2024, Insilico published a Nature Biotechnology paper presenting the entire R&D journey from AI algorithms to Phase II clinical trials of ISM001_055, the company’s lead drug pipeline with AI-discovered target and AI-designed structure. Following that, Insilico has recently announced positive preliminary results from a Phase IIa trial (NCT05938920), where ISM001_055 showed favorable safety and tolerability across all dose levels, as well as dose-dependent response in forced vital capacity (FVC), after only 12 weeks of dosage.