Google AI Unveils Silmitasertib’s Role in Cancer Immunotherapy

On October 21, 2025, Senhwa Biosciences announced that its investigational drug Silmitasertib (CX-4945) gained recognition through an official post from Google DeepMind. The breakthrough came as DeepMind’s advanced biological artificial intelligence (AI) system successfully identified CX-4945 as a significant enhancer of antigen presentation, a critical process in cancer immunotherapy. This finding could potentially revolutionize treatment for “cold tumors,” which often evade immune detection.

In a statement, Google CEO Sundar Pichai emphasized the importance of this discovery, noting that “with further preclinical and clinical testing, this discovery could reveal a promising new avenue for developing anti-cancer therapies.” The research, developed in collaboration with Yale University, utilized DeepMind’s C2S-Scale model, which is based on the Gemma architecture and features 27 billion parameters. This model predicted that the inhibition of protein kinase CK2 by CX-4945 could significantly enhance MHC-I expression and antigen presentation, marking a novel concept in scientific literature.

Laboratory studies corroborated these predictions. When human neuroendocrine cells were treated with CX-4945 and low-dose interferon, antigen presentation increased by approximately 50%. This enhancement makes tumor cells more recognizable to the immune system, facilitating potential therapeutic responses.

Silmitasertib is a first-in-class CK2 inhibitor that is currently undergoing clinical trials for multiple cancer indications. To date, CX-4945 has been administered to hundreds of patients worldwide, demonstrating a favorable safety profile alongside promising efficacy signals. Notably, in the United States, CX-4945 has been selected by the Beat Childhood Cancer Research Consortium and is under evaluation in conjunction with the Penn State Health Children’s Hospital for treating relapsed pediatric solid tumors.

The acknowledgment of CX-4945 by Google DeepMind not only bolsters its scientific credibility but also highlights its strategic potential in the evolving landscape of cancer immunotherapy. Researchers at DeepMind have noted that scaling biological AI models enhances prediction accuracy, enabling the generation of entirely new and testable scientific hypotheses. This integration of AI-driven simulations with experimental validation is seen as a transformative shift in biomedical discovery and drug development.

While this research remains in the preclinical stage, it signifies a pivotal moment at the intersection of artificial intelligence and medicine. Senhwa Biosciences is optimistic that through ongoing collaboration between AI innovation and clinical science, CX-4945 may accelerate its journey toward becoming a breakthrough immuno-oncology therapy that could benefit cancer patients globally.

As Taiwan’s biopharmaceutical sector increasingly gains international recognition, Senhwa aspires for its CX-4945 program to parallel the nation’s semiconductor advancements, aiming to establish a new “National Shield” for global health.