Generative Al will be designing new drugs all on its own in the near future
Generative AI is making significant strides in the field of drug discovery. It's being used to design new drugs by analyzing vast datasets and generating novel molecular structures that could potentially be strong drug candidates. For instance, scientists at pharmaceutical giant, Eli Lilly, have been surprised by the unique molecules that AI
has produced, which could not have been envisioned by human researchers.
Citing executives working at the industry of Al & healthcare cross-over, a CNBC report said that the AI-powered healthcare field is on a path that will see medicines completely generated by Artificial Intelligence (AI) in the near future.
Moreover, AI is expected to not only conceive new drugs but also create ones that humans might not be able to, thus expanding the horizons of medical science. The technology is advancing rapidly, and experts believe that within a few years, it will become a norm in drug discovery. This could significantly reduce the time and cost associated with developing new medications, leading to faster and more efficient healthcare solutions.
According to some, within a few years at most it will become a norm in drug discovery. Experts at Eli Lilly and NVIDIA say that within a few years, Al will not only think up new drugs, but ones that humans could not create.
Generative Al is rapidly accelerating its applicability to the developments and discovery of new medications, in a move that will reshape not only the pharmaceutical industry but ground-level ideas that have been built into the scientific method for centuries.
AlphaFold
A major precedent for AI-generated breakthroughs in biology was set in 2021 when Google’s DeepMind AI, came up with a novel protein called AlphaFold.Google DeepMind and EMBL-EBI (European Bioinformatics Institute) have partnered to create the AlphaFold Protein Structure Database. This database provides open access to over 200 million protein structure predictions generated by AlphaFold.
Exscientia
Exscientia is a leading pharmatech company that uses Al to design and optimize molecular properties of drugs for patients, revolutionizing drug discovery. Exscientia combines advanced Al design with exacting experimental validation to rapidly progress a pipeline of drug discovery assets. The pharmatech company is spearheading the drug discovery revolution by creating the first Al-designed molecules to reach clinical trials.Similarly, Insilico Medicine, a company with headquarters in Hong Kong and New York, has used AI to develop an experimental drug for idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, an incurable lung disease. The treatment is in mid-stage trials in the US and China with some results expected early 2025.
However, the success of any AI-designed drugs will ultimately be tested by the traditional final step in drug development —performance in human trials.
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