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What if the remedies of our ancestors still held hidden medicinal secrets? That’s the bold bet made by Enveda Biosciences, a biotech startup that recently raised $55 million to breathe new life into drug discovery using artificial intelligence (AI). Enveda’s unique approach blends age-old wisdom with cutting-edge technology, aiming to identify therapeutic molecules from plants used traditionally for healing.
Medicinal treasures from the past
For centuries, humans have relied on plants for medicine. One famous example is aspirin, derived from willow bark, used as a natural pain reliever since ancient times. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), around 40% of today’s medicines come from natural sources, yet scientists believe they have only scratched the surface of the therapeutic potential of the plant kingdom.
AI speeding up discovery
Traditionally, identifying and testing plant-based molecules is a time-consuming and complex process. However, Enveda, founded in 2019 by Viswa Colluru, uses AI to accelerate this process. Their technology scans thousands of plants used in traditional medicine and deciphers their chemical composition to identify potential therapeutic compounds.
Colluru explains that Enveda’s AI can detect similar uses of plants across different cultures for treating similar diseases, even though these cultures never communicated.
The future of medicine
Enveda’s approach is already yielding results. Two of their drugs, one for inflammatory bowel disease and another for skin conditions like eczema, are set to enter clinical trials this year.
With its unique blend of tradition and innovation, Enveda is at the forefront of a new era in medicine, unlocking the hidden secrets of nature.
