Adsilico

adsilico is a University of Leeds spinout building an end-to-end in-silico trials (IST) solution for the medical device industry. In-silico trials use computational modelling and simulation to assess device safety and performance in virtual patients — digital representations of human anatomy and physiology — so that scientific evidence can be produced before testing in human clinical trials. The company positions this as a way to identify poor designs early, reduce development spend, shorten R&D timelines and reduce clinical failure rates, while also reducing animal experimentation and partially replacing costly human trials.

The core technology is a generative AI capability that combines multiple data sources to create customisable virtual models of human anatomy, physiology and pathology. The company states these models are high-fidelity and simulation-ready, can represent under-represented, hard-to-reach and ethically challenging patient groups, and can be generated at scales from dozens to thousands of virtual patients. A published example is a virtual twin of an internal carotid artery with a brain aneurysm.

Adsilico Limited is registered in the UK with a registered office in Leeds and is classified under SIC code 72190 (other research and experimental development on natural sciences and engineering). Its leadership team comprises founder and CEO Sheena Macpherson, CFO Beckie Bown, Chief Product Officer Dr Anthony Holmes, Head of Virtual Populations Dr Nishant Ravikumar and Head of Simulations Dr Zeike Taylor; Professor Alejandro Frangi is also a founder.

Founding story

The company was founded on research funded by the Royal Academy of Engineering at the University of Leeds' Schools of Medicine and Computing, where an in-silico trials technique combining multiple data sources with generative AI to create synthetic patient populations was developed. Founder Professor Alejandro Frangi has framed the motivation as addressing the lengthy and increasingly costly evaluation pathway for medical devices, in which only a small amount of scientific evidence currently comes from computer modelling and simulation.

Business model

adsilico supplies in-silico trial capability to medical device developers, generating bespoke virtual patient populations and running computational modelling and simulation studies that produce evidence of device performance and safety ahead of human clinical trials. Populations can be scaled from dozens to thousands of virtual patients and tailored to a customer's specific research needs, indicating project- or engagement-based delivery of products and services.

The company provides products and services for in-silico trials, computational modelling and simulations to client organisations, generating virtual patient populations tailored to customer research requirements.

Traction

adsilico raised a £3.5m ($4.4m) seed round in February 2024 from Northern Gritstone (£2m) and Parkwalk Advisors (£1.5m), to be used for core development and team building. It has expanded its leadership team with a Chair, a Chief Financial Officer and a Chief Product Officer, and holds ISO/IEC 27001:2022 certification.

Latest developments

Following its February 2024 seed round, adsilico announced the appointment of its first Chair, described as a veteran of implantable medical device start-ups, and hired Dr Anthony Holmes as Chief Product Officer. Founder Professor Frangi gave an interview to The Times. Companies House records list the company as active, with last accounts made up to 31 December 2025 and a confirmation statement dated 28 July 2026.