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Oct-2019
AI SHAKING UP THE DRUG INDUSTRY
Drug development is always talked about as a field where the scientists face extremely slim odds to develop a new drug from the primary molecule.
Often the odds cited to develop a new drug averages at around 0.1. However, in the recent times, it has been claimed by many scientists that the use of Artificial Intelligence, that is to use its advanced computational tools such as machine learning, the success rate of drug development can be improved drastically. When the word Artificial Intelligence is used, it often describes functions such as learning and problem-solving, which are usually associated with the human brain, but the machine impersonates them. AI is generally categorized into three types, namely analytical, human-inspired and humanized. With it being established that AI can find relevance in any intellectual task, it has found its way into the drug development domain.
A drug development process starts with the identification of the targets which are susceptible to attack, such as disease-related protein receptors on the surface of the specific cells. This is followed by the use of various techniques such as high-throughput screening to observe which compounds bind with the target. After this, using multiple methods of biological and chemical tests, the structure is fine-tuned, and other features are tested, which include a compound's ability to reach the target in an organism. To a large extent, AI can be used across all these steps with it, helping in looking for patterns in data that can help with predicting which compounds have the potential to turn into medicines.
There is a notion that because using AI in drug development sounds like an exciting prospect, not everyone would be open to and agree with it. There has always been a traditional way of developing new drugs that are being used by pharmaceutical companies around the world. Considering the penchant to stick with conventional processes, it may well take some time in order for everyone to come to terms with the new approaches and the usage of AI in it. Even though it is not expected that new drugs will be discovered using AI alone, it makes a strong case to help automate how we interpret data and what can be learned from it, and a lot of companies would be more than happy to have that.
The application of AI to drug development has the potential to revolutionize the domain drastically.
- AI has no reliance on predetermined targets for drug discovery, thus making existing knowledge not a factor in drug development.
- AI emphasizes on using the latest developments in biology and computing to produce complex algorithms for drug discovery, thus having the possibility to levelling the playing field in drug development.
- AI has a higher power to produce predictions that define meaningful interactions in a drug screen. Hence the possibility of getting false positives can be reduced significantly.
- With the use AI, the drug screening process can be moved from a physical bench to a virtual lab where the results can be obtained with greater speed, and potential targets can be shortlisted without the use of extensive experimentation and manpower hours.
Although AI has its fair share of advantages, it still cannot completely replace human scientist in the process.
- The predictions made by AI are only as good as the algorithm used. The algorithm should be entered in a manner such that it lays out the criteria that should be used to parse out meaningful information.
- The process cannot be completely objective because there is a good chance that the creator’s own bias manifests itself in the way information is processed to generate predictions.
- Although the cost of supercomputing and high-throughput screening has decreased over the last decade, a significant amount of investment is still needed to establish these technologies.
The implementation of AI in drug development will definitely transform the way medicines are made, prescribed and consumed today. Although AI is expected to revolutionize many aspects of the pharmaceutical and life sciences industry, it will neither cure diseases nor replace doctors. A machine, no matter how intelligent it is considered, cannot find and solve a new problem or pave a new breakthrough the way a human being can. But it can play a crucial role in helping human beings understanding a disease condition much faster and allowing physicians to make better decisions. Understanding the true purpose of AI- which is to amplify human ability- will dispel most of the doubt surrounding the technology and bring forth its outstanding potential to serve humankind.
WRITTEN BY: Karthik Thelakula
Karthik Thelakula is a Content Writer in Market Data Forecast, one of the world’s leading research and consulting for various business domains, individuals and corporate clients
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