This week, MMV and deepmirror invited over 40 global health scientists to a workshop in Geneva to help adapt a machine learning (ML) and artificial intelligence (AI)-based platform to support drug discovery research worldwide. Once completed, the Drug Design for Global Health (dd4gh) platform will be used to accelerate the identification and selection of promising compounds for potential development into medicines. The workshop convened scientists from around the world working on a range of diseases, including Gates Foundation grantees and other product development partnerships. AI experts shared key concepts of using ML in drug discovery and trained participants on how the dd4gh platform can analyze complex datasets to accelerate the identification of the most promising compounds for further synthesis and testing.  

A core focus of dd4gh’s development is co-creation with its end users. During the workshop, participants provided feedback to help further refine the platform and better serve the needs of the global health research community ahead of its planned launch in March 2026.

A key priority for this partnership is to make it available to global health researchers in low- and middle-income countries (LMICs) with a second workshop being held this December in Accra. It will include over 20 African-based researchers working on diseases of significance to global health security and particularly relevant to Africa, such as malaria, tuberculosis and neglected tropical diseases (NTDs).

Prof. Richard Kwamla Amewu, the Founder and Leader of the Drug Innovation Group based at the University of Ghana’s Department of Chemistry, maintains that, “AI has the potential to be a transformative tool for accelerating scientific innovation in drug discovery and global health security. The dd4gh platform, through MMV and deepmirror's partnership, will ensure scientists everywhere can harness these technologies.”

Jeremy Burrows, Vice President Head of Drug Discovery at MMV confirms, “The partnership between deepmirror and MMV to deliver dd4gh underscores a shared commitment to advancing equity in drug discovery and promoting a more inclusive global scientific community. By combining expertise in technology and drug discovery, joint upskilling on AI and co-creation of the dd4gh platform, the participants should be empowered to make significant strides in the fight against global health challenges.”

Speakers, chairs and facilitators included: Jeremy Burrows, Vice President, Research Drug Discovery (MMV), Benoît Laleu, Director, Research Drug Discovery (MMV), Peter Ray (Recursion), Jérémy Besnard, AI/ML consultant, Max Jakobs, Chief Executive Officer (deepmirror), Andrea Dimitracopoulos, Co-Founder & COO (deepmirror), Diego Gonzalez Cabrera, Medicinal Chemistry Consultant (Hit Generation), Sauvik Samanta, Investigator, Medicinal Chemistry (H3D, University of Cape Town), Tom Von Geldern, Medicinal Chemistry Consultant (UNICAMP/Embedded Consulting), Joseph Ready, Professor (UT Southwestern Medical Center), Gemma Turon Rodrigo, Executive Director (Ersilia Open Source Initiative), Gang Liu, Senior Program Officer (Gates Foundation), Karen Akinsanya, President of R&D, Therapeutics and Chief Strategy Officer, Partnerships (Schrödinger, Inc.), Chris Cooper, Vice President, Chemistry (TB Alliance), Dan Goldberg, Senior Program Officer (Gates Foundation), Peter Sjö, Head of Discovery Projects (DNDi), Peter Warner, Senior Program Officer (Gates Foundation), Steven Berthel, TBDA Program Manager and Lead Medicinal Chemist (Panorama Global).

Participating organisations included: University of Ghana, Nuvisan ICB GmbH, GARDP, Gates Medical Research Institute, Calibr-Skaggs Institute for Innovative Medicines, DNDi, Lgenia, AMG Consultants Ltd, Evotec, Global Health Drug Discovery Institute, Baylor College of Medicine, CSIR-Central Drug Research Institute, Sekkei Bio Private Limited, UT Southwestern Medical Centre, Structural Genomics Consortium/Acceleration Consortium, University of Toronto, Drug Discovery Unit, University of Dundee.