Nobel Laureate Levitt and Insilico CEO Explore AI Drug Discovery at Zhangjiang Forum

The opening forum of the 2026 Zhangjiang Pharma Conference and Shanghai International Biomedical Industry Week was held on September 17, 2026. In a fireside chat, Nobel Chemistry laureate Michael Levitt of Stanford University met with Ren Feng, co-CEO and chief scientific officer of Insilico Medicine, to discuss the role of artificial intelligence in drug discovery.

Ren recalled that half a century ago, Levitt completed one of the first protein dynamics simulations, when using computers to study biology seemed like science fiction. Now, AI can predict protein structures, generate novel molecules, design drugs and help advance them into clinical trials. Asked whether the pace of AI development in biomedicine has exceeded his expectations, Levitt said AI-based drug development has progressed faster than he expected.

Ren also said his team has advanced the world's first innovative drug with AI-identified targets and AI-designed molecular structures into Phase III clinical trials. The drug, whose target discovery and molecular design were driven by AI, is now in late-stage clinical development.