Seattle-area startup Pauling.AI is using artificial intelligence to automate early drug discovery steps, reducing processes that once took three to six months down to weeks.
Founded in 2024 by former Google technical director of healthcare and life sciences initiatives Javier Tordable, the company operates on a “scientist-as-a-service” model that allows researchers to outsource computational chemistry tasks to AI, producing curated lists of small-molecule compounds for lab testing. Tordable said the goal is to dramatically increase the number of new drugs approved each year, noting, “The dream of a lot of people in the field would be that, at some point, we’ll go from 30 or 40 new drugs approved every year to 300 or 400.”
By shortening development timelines and reducing costs, Pauling.AI strengthens the Pacific Northwest’s expanding use of AI in drug discovery and supports efforts to make treatments for rare diseases more economically viable.