On Tuesday, the giant drug maker Gilead Sciences said it would pay Insitro $15 million — and up to $1 billion more down the line if it meets certain goals — for help in developing drugs to treat a common liver disease. Gilead Sciences has agreed a deal with machine - learning start - up Insitro to help the drug maker develop treatments for liver disease . Gilead will pay an initial $ 15 million to the San Francisco - based start - up , with a potential $ 1bn in payments at later dates if certain targets are met . Through the deal , Insitro will develop and apply machine learning to the task of designing proteins that could be used for innovative drugs to treat non - alcoholic steatohepatitis , or NASH .
Gilead Sciences has agreed a deal with machine - learning start - up Insitro to help the drug maker develop treatments for liver disease . Gilead will pay an initial $ 15 million to the San Francisco - based start - up , with a potential $ 1bn in payments at later dates if certain targets are met . Through the deal , Insitro will develop and apply machine learning to the task of designing proteins that could be used for innovative drugs to treat non - alcoholic steatohepatitis , or NASH .