The importance of drug development is unquestionable. Even in our day and age, there are still diseases that are considered incurable. Hospitals are full of people in desperate need of healing. But it is not easy to discover a new drug. How Artificial Intelligence can help us improve it?
How does traditional drug development occur?
The first thing the scientist must do to start a drug discovery process is to study the biology of a disease they want to deal with. It is really important to explore its nature and observe its resistance mechanisms. Only then scientists can come up with something that will likely destroy it. They also must take into consideration the human organism and how the potential cure will affect it.
When the list of potential candidates for the cure is completed, scientists can start to test their predictions in trials. This phase can take a lot of time though it is only a beginning.
When the results of the tests are established and scientists identify the right compounds for the cure it comes time for testing it on living creatures. During this phase of drug development, it must become clear if the cure scientists came up with is safe enough to be given to humans. Before it can be tested on humans they are obligated to rule out a lot of potential dangers. If it is not safe – years of work that took a lot of money and effort are considered a failure. But if it passes the tests on animals (and eventually humans), it must be approved by FDA first, before it can enter the market and start being sold by pharmacies.
Problems we face regarding traditional drug development
First, drug development is an incredibly long process – it can take up to 10 years to discover and develop a drug, and we still cannot be sure if it is going to be safe. It is also possible that we have already discovered drugs for diseases that are still considered incurable, but we have not connected the dots yet. What is more, some drugs might have not to be discovered yet because the development of that potential cure is considered to not be profitable. Often such an undertaking involves a high risk of losing resources while showing small chances for success.
How Artificial Intelligence can help us develop new drugs
Fortunately, with AI, we can finally save hundreds of millions of dollars and years of studies and tests which translates into saving millions of human lives. Artificial Intelligence can teach itself and become smarter every second when provided with the right data. It can quickly process an incredible amount of information and make suggestions on what will make a good drug for a certain disease. What is more, AI not only speeds up the first step of the whole process but is also capable of undertaking virtual trails that are supposed to simulate testing the substance on living creatures. Not only that but Artificial Intelligence can also help in the process of recruiting the ideal people for undergoing tests of the newly discovered drug.
Read more at: https://addepto.com/artificial-intelligence-in-drug-discovery-with-machine-learning/