Traditional pharmaceutical companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence startups to revolutionize drug development, significantly reducing both time and costs.
The average cost of bringing a new drug to market can reach $1.3 billion, and development times can stretch up to 10-12 years. AI has the potential to cut this time to as little as 12 months while also slashing costs to a tenth of the traditional figures.
AI, particularly generative AI, is playing a transformative role in the pharmaceutical industry. This technology accelerates processes from drug design to production, dramatically cutting costs. The application of generative AI in drug discovery and development has turned monthslong processes into weeks, reducing clinical trial failures.
CB Insight, which analyzes funding, acquisitions, clinical advancements, and partnership strategies in the pharmaceutical sector, explores how AI reshapes discovery, preclinical, and clinical research phases in drug research and development (R&D).
Traditionally, bringing a drug to market, factoring in failed trials, costs an average of $1.3 billion. As efficiency in drug R&D decreases, these costs continue to rise. AI startups play a crucial role in accelerating the drug development process.
While traditional drug development takes 10-12 years, AI applications have significantly shortened this period. Some AI-driven drug discovery projects have reduced the transition from designing new compounds to clinical trials to as little as 12 months.
Moreover, AI has the potential to decrease failure rates in clinical trials. Historically, only 10% of compounds that pass preclinical tests reach clinical trials. AI applications increase this percentage, enabling more compounds to progress to clinical trials.
According to CB Insight data, biological drug developers raised $1.6 billion in funding in 2024, more than double the amount in 2023. A significant portion of this increase came from Xaira Therapeutics' $1 billion funding round.
Since 2023, all of the world's top 10 pharmaceutical companies have partnered with AI-driven drug discovery startups, with nine out of the 10 also developing in-house AI capabilities. For instance, in 2023, Takeda acquired Nimbus Therapeutics for $4 billion to develop a treatment for plaque psoriasis, the most common form of psoriasis.
This focus on biological drugs indicates that AI is expanding from its foundational work with small molecules to larger, more computationally complex therapeutics. AI-driven acquisitions in drug discovery are rapidly increasing, with eight of the industry's largest 10 deals since 2023.
The total number of acquisitions in this period has doubled the sector's historical acquisition activity, reflecting both the maturity of the technology and the urgency with which major players are integrating AI capabilities.
Experienced venture capital firm 212 has released its 2024 performance evaluation, reporting returns exceeding four times the initial investments for its investors globally and in Türkiye.
Dubbed Türkiye's first venture capital fund, 212 is known for its strategic investments in notable startups, such as Insider.
212 has reinforced its status as a formidable player in the venture capital ecosystem through successful investments and exit deals over the past year. The fund's performance highlights its strong presence in both local and global markets.
In 2024, 212 achieved more than quadruple returns for its investors through key portfolio companies like Insider. This remarkable performance has positioned 212 as the highest-returning VC among Türkiye-focused venture capital funds.
A notable example is the acquisition of 123FormBuilder by Silicon Valley-based Kiteworks, marking a significant milestone toward the fund's strategic objectives.
Throughout 2024, 212 invested $11.2 million across 13 different companies, accelerating the global growth of regional tech ventures such as Trio Mobil and SOCRadar.
Trio Mobil's fourfold valuation increase and SOCRadar's tenfold rise in international sales exemplify the successful growth stories within 212's portfolio.
The fund's innovative approach to secondary transactions has provided liquidity to investors, enabling them to realize more than double the returns on their initial investments.
This strategy has contributed to 212's ranking in the top 10% of global funds based on the paid-in capital distribution multiple.
"Besides supporting startups on their growth journeys, we provided our investors with diverse financing methods," said 212 co-founder Numan Numan.
"By executing Türkiye's first secondary transaction, we offered liquidity to our investors, enabling them to achieve cash returns exceeding twice their initial investments. Additionally, we have begun to rank among the top 10% of global funds in terms of paid-in capital distribution multiple," Numan noted.
The "Boost The Future" acceleration program, co-organized by Akbank and Endeavor Türkiye and aimed at empowering the entrepreneurial ecosystem, wrapped up its sixth term this week with an intensive Demo Day.
During the event, 10 startups operating in critical areas such as sustainability, finance, and energy presented their innovative solutions to prominent figures in the ecosystem.
After completing a rigorous three-month mentorship and training program, the ventures showcased their groundbreaking solutions to an audience of leading ecosystem leaders, investors, and entrepreneurs.
In her opening remarks, Burcu Civelek Yüce, deputy general manager in charge of retail banking and digital solutions at Akbank and a board member of Endeavor Türkiye, highlighted the program's achievements.
"We have completed the sixth term of the Boost The Future program, aimed at strengthening the entrepreneurial ecosystem. Through this program, we support future solutions and business models. We provide the necessary guidance and support through the mentorship process to help our entrepreneurs grow and expand internationally," said Yüce.
"With the Demo Day event, where our ecosystem stakeholders and entrepreneurs came together, we concluded an intense three-month program. We listened to the work of our startups, which create value with the solutions they offer in different verticals," she added.
"We are proud to play a role in the development of these innovative and impactful startups, which are part of a growing network each year. We will continue to support initiatives that empower the future."
One of Türkiye's leading fuel distributors, Petrol Ofisi, and the telecommunications and technology giant Türk Telekom announced on Thursday they had entered a new phase of their strategic partnership in the field of software-defined wide area network (SD-WAN).
The expansion of their collaboration aims to enhance the management of sales, stock, and refueling data at fuel stations and village pumps nationwide, making these processes more secure and seamless, the companies said in a statement.
This project, spanning 2,700 fuel stations across all 81 provinces of Türkiye, marks a significant milestone in the digital transformation of the fuel industry.
Through this collaboration, Türk Telekom will implement and manage the SD-WAN and Local Network Infrastructure for Petrol Ofisi's fuel automation systems, providing industry-standard digital transformation for the next five years.
The new agreement also extends the use of SD-WAN technology, first adopted four years ago in collaboration with Türk Telekom, to BP stations and service points that Petrol Ofisi recently acquired.
Petrol Ofisi Group CEO Mehmet Abbasoğlu expressed his satisfaction with the project, which he says is a milestone in achieving their digital transformation goals and contributes to strengthening the communication automation infrastructure in the energy sector across Türkiye, including National Vehicle Recognition System (UTTS), with innovative solutions.
"We are pleased to implement it with Türk Telekom, a crucial player in Türkiye's digital transformation. With the acquisition of BP, we now operate a network of 2,700 stations nationwide, reinforcing our role in ensuring the security and accessibility of the country's energy supply," said Abbasoğlu.
"We are proud to lead the industry in setting a standard with a secure, uninterrupted, and highly accessible communication infrastructure."
For his part, Türk Telekom CEO Ümit Önal highlighted the importance of the partnership and said his company is proud to support businesses and institutions on their digital transformation journeys.
"Our vision for digitalization spans various sectors, including defense, industry, finance, energy, education, health care, transportation, agriculture, arts, and sports. The collaboration with Petrol Ofisi, using our SD-WAN technology, enables them to make their network management more flexible, reliable, and centralized, maximizing their operational efficiency," said Önal.
"We will continue to support digital transformation processes and provide end-to-end solutions with the latest technologies."
