Atomwise: Strategic Opportunities in AI for Pharma

Abraham Heifets and his co-founder, Izhar Wallach, had founded Atomwise to develop i) an AI engine to transform drug discovery by creating better medicines faster, and ii) a machine learning-based discovery engine that combined the power of convolutional neural networks with massive chemical libraries to discover new small molecule medicines. Computational chemists employed at big pharmaceutical companies were interested in trying these engines and associated tools on their projects. On the other hand, Atomwise could keep its tools for itself if it were to become a pharmaceutical company on its own. These options would chart very different courses for Atomwise. The case articulates the dilemma facing Heifets and Wallach, as they contemplated committing to a business model that would leverage the strengths of the technology to deliver value for patients and for investors.