Accenture has announced its investment in Turbine, a predictive simulation company which is building a platform for interpreting human biology.
Accenture’s investment is poised to help Turbine enhance its services for biopharma companies around the world. This will allow Turbine to uncover hidden biological insights that can speed up and improve drug development processes.
Turbine’s core technology, the Simulated Cell platform, uses machine learning to understand how human cells make decisions. The platform intricately models molecular interactions within and around cells, enabling virtual experiments and revealing mechanisms that drive diseases and responses to therapies.
Turbine’s platform is being tested with pharma companies to find new drug targets, choose patients who will benefit most from treatments and discover effective drug combinations. This helps Turbine identify hidden treatments and spot drugs that might work in the lab but fail in real-world trials.
Tom Lounibos, global lead of Accenture Ventures, said: “Advanced technology and digital capabilities are clearly becoming substantial differentiators in the biopharma industry, and the future of drug discovery will be powered by AI.
“Turbine’s AI-based platform has clearly demonstrated the ability to unlock high-quality biological insights for our clients across the biopharma industry.”
Accenture has also revealed plans to acquire Japanese consulting and systems integration firm Openstream Holdings and its subsidiaries, Open Stream and Neutral, to help clients reinvent their businesses with advanced digital technologies and become truly data-driven.
The acquisition will bring about 1,000 cloud and digital experts to Accenture’s teams, which will boost the company’s ability to help clients update their systems and applications, and adopt cloud, data, AI and IoT technologies. It will also improve Accenture’s business with a strong client base and automation solutions for departments from procurement and manufacturing to logistics and after-sales service.
Atsushi Egawa, Japan business lead at Accenture, commented: “With Openstream Holdings, we can better help our clients reinvent their businesses and become truly data-driven.”
