Conscience launches AI medicines fund for Canadian teams

Conscience has launched an AI-Driven Medicines programme to fund Canadian projects using computational and digital methods in drug discovery and development.

The initiative, known as AIM, will provide one year of milestone-driven, reimbursed funding for researchers, academic institutions, and companies developing tools and methods addressing unmet medical or technological needs.

Canadian researchers, academic institutions and large enterprises can receive up to 33 per cent of eligible costs, while Canadian small and medium-sized enterprises can receive up to 50 per cent. Funding is capped at CAD $1 million per project, though larger awards may be considered if the scope and technical complexity justify a higher budget.

The programme is seeking applications for computational approaches, devices, tools and digital health technologies across three broad areas: discovery and translational science, manufacturing and formulation, and clinical development and trial optimisation.

Examples include target or lead identification, biomarker integration using multi-omics and imaging, surrogate endpoint validation, disease pathway elucidation and disease diagnosis. In manufacturing, AIM will support work on predicting higher-yield or greener processes, cost-optimised synthesis and field-stable formulations. In clinical development, the scope includes patient recruitment and stratification, adaptive trial design, virtual cohorts such as Digital Twins and Synthetic Control Arms, and remote monitoring through wearables and real-world data analysis.

Applications will be accepted on a rolling basis until available funding is allocated.

Conscience presents the programme as a complement to its existing therapeutics development work, with a focus on the methods that help move research into practical use.

"While Conscience already supports programs focused on specific therapeutics development, progress in drug discovery also depends on the tools that make those advances possible. This initiative is designed to strengthen the methodologies and technologies researchers need to move discoveries forward," said Anne Fortier, VP of Drug Discovery and Development at Conscience.

Fortier added: "As a non-profit focused on developing accessible medicines, we encourage open collaboration and support the development and responsible use of AI in drug discovery and development."

The launch also drew support from the federal government. The Honourable Evan Solomon, Minister of Artificial Intelligence and Digital Innovation and Minister responsible for the Federal Economic Development Agency for Southern Ontario, publicly backed the programme.

"As Canada continues to lead in innovation and health research, our government is proud to support programs like Conscience's AI-Driven Medicines initiative. By empowering researchers, academic institutions, and businesses across the country to harness the power of artificial intelligence, we are accelerating discoveries that will make medicines more accessible and affordable for all Canadians. This is a step forward not only for science, but for equity and public health," said Solomon.

Open Science

AIM extends Conscience's broader push to use open science models in drug discovery. The group already supports several programmes intended to bring together researchers, technologists, industry partners and policy specialists around shared drug development work.

These include the Developing Medicines through Open Science programme and the Critical Assessment of Computational Hit-finding Experiments Challenges. Both are intended to help identify and develop drug candidates through collaborative research rather than conventional closed development models.

Conscience also supports BEACON, the Benchmarking, Evaluation, and Assessment Consortium for Science. The effort aims to create shared benchmarking frameworks for computational and AI-based approaches in drug discovery, allowing methods to be assessed more transparently and rigorously.

Conscience describes itself as a Canadian non-profit focused on enabling drug discovery and development in areas where open sharing and collaboration are important to making treatments more accessible. Its model combines funding, tool development and policy work to reduce barriers in traditional drug development, with an emphasis on medicines that may be poorly served by standard commercial incentives.

AIM adds a dedicated funding route for teams developing the digital and computational infrastructure behind that work, from early-stage discovery through manufacturing and clinical testing, with support of up to CAD $1 million per project.