AI Meets Aging: Inside The Longevity Revolution With Insilico Medicine (Part I)

By Ray Dogum, Chief Editor, Drug Discovery Online

An Interview with Alex (Aleksandrs Zavoronkovs) Zhavoronkov, PhD, Longevity and drug discovery researcher, Founder, CEO and CBO at Insilico Medicine

Longevity is re-emerging as a biotech research area of great opportunity. AI has become universally top of mind for many biotech researchers and drug developers. However, one of the enduring challenges in longevity research has been the limited availability of comprehensive medical and lifestyle health data combined with discovery-based research datasets. These are critical components for unlocking the biology of aging. Today, we are at a moment in time when novel drug discovery tools are transforming our ability to observe cells and their nanomachinery more closely. This is an inflection point where the capabilities of AI and the massive discovery opportunities remain buried in the data.

More data, more discoveries, more treatments. Right?

Even big pharma is doubling down on AI-enabled drug discovery. Lilly recently launched TuneLab, an AI/ML platform built on more than $1 billion worth of proprietary research data. Designed to level the playing field for smaller biotechs, TuneLab provides access to Lilly-trained drug discovery models, reportedly without compromising data privacy.

Founded in 2014, Insilico Medicine, is one of the earliest AI-driven biotech companies and one of the few who have pipeline drugs in Phase II clinical research.  

As the decisions of AI companies become more consequential to the public, it’s important to understand how its leaders view the landscape and what their R&D priorities are. That’s why I’m grateful for the opportunity to explore Alex’s perspective in his responses to my questions which I’ll share in two parts.

The first part focuses on getting to know Alex and his perspectives on human nature and aging more broadly. The second part will focus on AI technology innovation and adoption, Alex’s experience leading Insilico Medicine for over a decade, and his outlook for the future.

“To me, drug discovery is more than treating symptoms but about changing the human experience of aging itself.” – Alex Zhavoronkov

Getting to Know Alex  

Ray: Congrats on a successful 12th annual Aging Research & Drug Discovery (ARDD) event! I heard it was excellent. What did you learn there that you didn’t know before?

Alex: One of the most powerful moments came from Dr. Andrew Adams of Eli Lilly. In his keynote at the Grand Hall, after recounting the GLP-1 development story, he asked the room a huge question: “Are GLP-1s the world’s first longevity drug?” The atmosphere shifted instantly. Surrounded by senior R&D leaders from Lilly, Novo, AstraZeneca, Roche, Boehringer and others, you could feel the field cross an invisible threshold. For the first time, a top-five pharmaceutical company openly positioned itself as a longevity company.

The very next day, Dr. Lotte Bjerre Knudsen, Novo Nordisk’s Chief Scientific Advisor and the architect of semaglutide also reinforced the narrative. On her updated title slide she stated: “Semaglutide as a Proven Longevity Medicine.” That was a watershed moment as the world’s leading metabolic drug was framed as a longevity drug, endorsed not just by biotech leaders but also by the industry leaders who built it. Check out my blog piece on it.

Ray: Do you see yourself more as a scientist, a futurist, or a philosopher of biology? How does your work challenge or reinforce this categorization?

Alex: I see myself as a scientist because everything I build must be grounded in data and validation. At the same time much of my work requires me to be a futurist and anticipate how things like biology, AI, and even real estate can converge and improve human lives/longevity. I strive to be a cohesive hybrid of scientist, futurist, and occasionally a philosopher of biology, guided by the pursuit of evidence-based innovation.

Aging and Human Nature

Ray: Is aging a disease, a process, or a philosophical inevitability? How does your work challenge or reinforce this categorization?

Alex: Aging should be recognized as a disease and a process that drives/is linked to many diseases. At Insilico, our discovery process is built around research on aging biology. We look for pathways that don’t just matter in one disease, but that sit at the crossroads of many age-related conditions, fibrosis, cancer, metabolic disorders, neurodegeneration, etc.

Ray: If aging is universal, should drug discovery prioritize longevity over disease-specific interventions?

Alex: Obviously, disease-specific interventions are important and essential, and you can’t ignore the urgent need to treat something like IPF or cancer when patients are facing it today. But I am also excited when a target gives you potentially both options. Addressing the disease directly and also hitting the underlying biology of aging. We deliberately look for those kinds of targets and have published frequently regarding TNIKs role in aging process.

Ray: In your longevity pledge, you express your frustration “that most people do not pay enough attention to the inevitable decline, frailty, loss of function, diseases, and death that are associated with aging and choose to be distracted and spend their time on attention-grabbing causes that only provide a temporary reward.” Why do you think people choose to self-sabotage their health when their own behavior can directly impact their healthspan?

Alex: I think a lot of it comes down to human nature and incentives. People know they should sleep more, eat better, and exercise but the rewards for those choices come decades later and distractions and temptations are right in front of them. If people could actually see their biological age changing or watch their future health improving from small decisions I think more people would pay attention to it. Ultimately, it is up to each individual how they choose to live their life.

Ray: What responsibility do drug discoverers have in shaping not just new molecules, but the human experience of aging and dying?

Alex: I think we have a huge responsibility. Every drug we design is also a statement about what kind of lives we want people to have as they age. To me, drug discovery is more than treating symptoms but about changing the human experience of aging itself. That means being honest about what works and what doesn’t, publishing negative results as well as breakthroughs, and making sure our discoveries translate into therapies that actually make late life better, not just longer.

Ray: Rapamycin – what’s the verdict on this drug’s impact on longevity?

Alex: Rapamycin is one of the most important proofs of concept in aging research. In animals, it can extend lifespan and healthspan, but in humans the evidence is still very weak/nonexistent. What rapamycin did was show the world that you can target aging pathways and see meaningful effects, which changed the conversation forever. It opened the door for everything that’s coming next.

Alex Zhavoronkov Biography

Alex Zhavoronkov, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Insilico Medicine (insilico.com), a leader in generative artificial intelligence technologies for drug discovery and biomarker development. Dr. Zhavoronkov has a combined background in biomedicine and computer technology. He has been recognized by Deep Knowledge Analytics in 2019 as one of the top 100 AI leaders in drug discovery and advanced healthcare globally and has been selected as one of Clarivate's Global Highly Cited Scientists for 2022.

Dr. Zhavoronkov founded Insilico in 2014 and applied AI technologies to analyze a wide range of data types, including anti-aging, disease mechanisms, target identification, and signaling pathway modeling. In 2016, he pioneered the application of key technologies in Generative Adversarial Networks (GANs) and Reinforcement Learning (RL) to drug discovery, discovering novel targets and generating novel molecules with satisfied properties.

Prior to Insilico, Dr. Zhavoronkov worked in senior roles at ATI Technologies (GPU company acquired by AMD in 2006), NeuroGNeuroinformatics, Biogerontology Research Foundation. Since 2012 he published over 200 peer-reviewed research papers, and 3 books. He serves on the advisory or editorial boards of Trends in Molecular Medicine, Aging Research Reviews, Aging, Frontiers in Genetics, npj Agingand co-chairs the Annual Aging Research, Drug Discovery and AI Forum, the world's largest event on aging in the pharmaceutical industry. He is the adjunct professor of artificial intelligence at the Buck Institute for Research on Aging.