“I would be surprised if we don’t see it over the next five to six years,” Alex Zhavoronkov, chief executive officer of Insilico Medicine, said in an interview with Bloomberg Television. “I hope we will be the first ones – we have more than 40 programmes internally – but you never know.”

The pharmaceutical industry has long touted the promise of AI in slashing time and costs in the research and development process, although none has been approved so far. Takeda Pharmaceutical Co is in final clinical testing of a psoriasis drug selected by AI, with data expected this year.

While most companies, according to Zhavoronkov, currently use AI in a piecemeal manner, what sets Insilico apart in his assessment is that it incorporates the technology in every step from target hypothesis to drug optimisation to deliver drugs ready for human trials.

Insilico, which has operations across the US, China, the Middle East and Canada, recently filed anew for a listing on the Hong Kong stock exchange, after raising a private round that valued the company at more than US$1 billion.