AI-designed drugs set to enter clinical trials: A new era of health or a Trojan horse for corporate control?

By willowt // 2025-03-06

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Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis announced that AI-designed drugs from Isomorphic Labs, a Google spin-out, are expected to enter clinical trials by the end of 2025. This highlights the potential of AI to revolutionize medicine by accelerating drug discovery and potentially reducing development timelines from years to months.
While AI holds the promise of advancing personalized medicine and tackling complex biological challenges, the involvement of Google raises concerns. The company's shift away from its "don't be evil" motto and its history of using AI for various purposes, including surveillance, raises questions about the true beneficiaries of this technological advancement.
The "revolving door" between corporations and regulators, along with past incidents like the COVID-19 vaccine rollout, has eroded public trust and suggests a prioritization of corporate interests over public health.
A study published in Nature Biotechnology found that lipid nanoparticles in mRNA vaccines travel to vital organs, contradicting earlier assurances. This revelation underscores the dangers of rushed approvals and the need for thorough safety testing and transparency in both AI-driven drug development and traditional pharmaceutical practices.
As AI integrates into medicine, it is crucial that its deployment is guided by ethical principles and a commitment to public health, rather than corporate profit. The ultimate goal should be to ensure that the tools of tomorrow serve the many, not the few, and that power is held accountable to prevent exploitation.

In a world where the lines between public health and corporate profit blur with alarming frequency, the latest announcement from Google DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis has sparked both intrigue and skepticism. Speaking at the World Economic Forum in Davos, Hassabis revealed that AI-designed drugs from Google’s spin-out company, Isomorphic Labs, are set to enter clinical trials by the end of 2025. While the promise of artificial intelligence revolutionizing medicine is tantalizing, the question remains: Who stands to benefit most from this technological leap—humanity or the corporate elite?

The AI revolution in medicine: A double-edged sword

Hassabis, a Nobel laureate for his work on AlphaFold, an AI system that predicts protein structures, envisions a future where AI accelerates drug discovery, potentially reducing development timelines from years to months. “AI applied to science is a lot richer than just the language models,” he said, emphasizing its potential to tackle complex biological challenges. “We and others are working on trying to design drugs with AI, and with our spin-out company Isomorphic, I think we will hopefully have some AI-designed drugs in clinical trials by the end of the year—that’s the plan.” The implications are profound. AI could enable personalized medicine, optimizing treatments for individual metabolisms overnight. However, the involvement of Google—a company that quietly removed its “don’t be evil” motto in 2018 and recently scrubbed its pledge against using AI for weapons or surveillance—raises red flags. As health freedom advocates, we must ask: Is this a genuine effort to heal, or another tool for corporate control?

The Big Pharma corruption carousel: A history of exploitation

The pharmaceutical industry’s cozy relationship with regulators is nothing new. Pfizer’s recent hiring of Patrizia Cavazzoni, a former top FDA official, as its chief medical officer is a glaring example of the revolving door between regulators and corporations. As Stat News noted, this move is “one of the dumbest, most damaging corporate screwups since the rollout of New Coke.” Yet, the concern isn’t the corruption itself—it’s the poor optics. This isn’t an isolated incident. During the COVID-19 pandemic, public trust in health authorities eroded as revelations of conflicts of interest and rushed approvals came to light. The FDA’s regulatory process, once a gold standard, now appears more like a rubber stamp for corporate interests. As Robert F. Kennedy Jr., now head of the Department of Health and Human Services, has repeatedly pointed out, the pharma sector’s influence over regulators has turned public health into a profit-driven enterprise.

Lipid nanoparticles and the COVID-19 vaccine debacle

The recent study published in Nature Biotechnology revealing that lipid nanoparticles (LNPs) in mRNA vaccines travel to vital organs, including the heart, underscores the dangers of rushed approvals. The study found that LNPs, used to deliver mRNA, circulate throughout the body, contradicting earlier assurances that they remained localized at the injection site. “This paper is an excellent example of how false that statement was,” said Karl Jablonowski, a senior scientist at Children’s Health Defense. The findings align with reports of myocarditis and pericarditis following mRNA vaccination, with over 27,000 cases reported to the Vaccine Adverse Event Reporting System (VAERS) as of December 2024. Epidemiologist Nicolas Hulscher lamented, “Biodistribution studies should have been performed BEFORE mass ‘vaccination’ of the entire world’s population.”

A call for transparency and accountability

As AI-designed drugs enter clinical trials, the lessons of the COVID-19 era must not be forgotten. The rush to innovate must not come at the expense of rigorous safety testing and transparency. The pharmaceutical industry’s history of prioritizing profit over people has left a trail of mistrust, and the integration of AI into drug development risks exacerbating this trend if left unchecked. Health freedom advocates must demand accountability from both corporations and regulators. The promise of AI in medicine is immense, but its deployment must be guided by ethical principles and a commitment to public health—not corporate enrichment. As we stand on the brink of a new era in medicine, the question remains: Will this be a revolution for healing, or another chapter in the saga of corporate exploitation? The answer lies in people's ability to hold power to account and ensure that the tools of tomorrow serve the many, not the few. Sources include: TheDailyBell.com Soci.org ChildrensHealthDefense.org