machine learning and AI

Repurposing is a drug development strategy that has been widely applied in cancer. This strategy, sometimes called label expansion, involves obtaining FDA approval to market a drug for the treatment of new indications, alone or in combination with other drugs. Not only can this approach extend the window of patent protection for a commercialized drug,…

In episode 2 of AI Meets Life Sci, DeviceTalks Managing Editor Kayleen Brown, and Pharma Editor Brian Buntz explore how Big Tech is developing artificial intelligence (AI) infrastructure in a variety of healthcare organizations. Elena Bonfiglioli, global business leader for Health and Life Sciences at Microsoft, weighs in on the subject, also sharing that she…

In drug discovery and development, generative AI and natural-language processing (NLP) tools promise more than incremental productivity gains. For companies that can integrate such tools strategically into their workflows, the tools open the door to a fundamental rethinking of operational processes. For instance, generative AI tools can accelerate drafting of research articles, novel target identification,…

In a year or two, the clinical trial industry may move beyond electronic data capture (EDC), a technology that has been the cornerstone of clinical data management for decades, projects Raj Indupuri, CEO of eClinical Solutions. Given the potential of electronic medical records (EMR) to feed directly into data infrastructure, the need for EDC may…

The allure of healthcare has long captivated Big Tech giants. Over the past fifteen years or so, several prominent companies in the sector have ventured into the life sciences sector with ambitious projects, only to often find themselves retreating. The dynamic appears to be changing, particularly in drug discovery, thanks in part to burgeoning data…

In the midst of a global pandemic, Pfizer, under the leadership of its chief digital and technology officer Lidia Fonseca, achieved what was once thought impossible. The company, with the partnership of BioNTech, developed a COVID-19 vaccine in only 269 days, a process that traditionally would have taken 8 to 10 years. While prior research…

Genmab’s senior vice president, global head of data science and AI, Hisham Hamadeh, describes the company’s journey to becoming “a data-driven decision-making company.” In one sense, there is little choice but to do so. “We’re swimming in data like never before. We’ve seen the volumes of data, the ability to compute on that data, and…

Historically, the pharma sector has exhibited a degree of caution in adopting emerging technologies such as cloud computing and AI, given the sector’s stringent regulatory requirements, data security concerns, and the complexities involved in integrating new systems into legacy processes. The situation is beginning to shift considerably with the COVID-19 pandemic, in particular, acting as…

In July, the life sciences services company Eversana revealed it was partnering with AWS to tap generative AI (gen AI) for pharma and other life science customers. It aimed to “pharmatize” gen AI, as the company put it then. Now, the company has revealed the first technology from that partnership – a regulatory review automation…

In the same week that Merck and Amgen revealed expanded alliances with AWS, the bioinformatics startup Culmination Bio revealed that it has received $10 million in funding from the venture arms of those companies, Merck Global Health Innovation Fund and Amgen Ventures. Culmination Bio, a spinoff from Intermountain Health, has developed a vast data lake…

At its annual re:Invent event, Amazon Web Services (AWS) announced expanded alliances with two leading drug developers, Amgen and Merck, to create generative artificial intelligence (AI) technologies aimed at accelerating drug discovery and increasing efficiencies in manufacturing processes. Merck has been working with AWS and Accenture for several years whereas Amgen and AWS have collaborated…

Chipmaker NVIDIA and cloud behemoth AWS have been partnering for years, and now the two companies are announcing that NVIDIA’s drug discovery generative AI platform, BioNeMo, is now available on AWS. Additionally, plans are underway for BioNeMo to be offered on AWS on NVIDIA DGX Cloud. The alliance was announced at the AWS re:Invent event.…

Technically, graphics processing and AI hardware powerhouse Nvidia is also a drug discovery company. It may not discover drugs in-house, but it has developed BioNeMo, a comprehensive generative AI platform for drug discovery and Clara, a collection of healthcare frameworks, applications, and tools, including for biopharma. Nvidia partners include Amgen, AstraZeneca, GSK and Insilico Medicine.…

During the COVID-19 pandemic in late 2020, the storied Silicon Valley institution SRI International secured a $4.3 million DARPA contract to develop a tool for generating therapeutic small molecules to combat biological threats. Not just known for innovations like the computer mouse and Siri, SRI International is also responsible for Synfini, a multimodal chemistry model…

The tale of digital pharma and biotech in 2023 is one of two realities. In one corner, you have AI and digital-focused startups and sometimes executives at Big Pharma companies with grand AI ambitions proclaiming the power of the technology. But on the other side of the pharma-AI coin is a more cautious crowd. Here,…

AI Meets Life Sci explores the transformative role of AI and ML in the life sciences. The series zeroes in on major obstacles and opportunities in healthcare, presenting insights from Big Pharma, medtech OEMs, and Tech Giants, shaping the healthcare landscape and leading to better health outcomes. For more information, check out our website.

A vision for data-driven drug development in oncology When Peter Carr, principal software architect of Lantern Pharma, stepped into his full-time role in September 2020, the company was on the cusp of a transformation. While AI had been a focus for a number of years, a fresh infusion of cash provided a possibility of expanding…

In recent years, the term “data lakehouse” has entered the lexicon of data professionals. For AI-enabled clinical trials, the lakehouse architecture promises seamless integration of diverse data streams, spanning patient health records to real-time sensor data, all processed efficiently and queried in structured formats. The lakehouse architecture aims to provide a comprehensive overview of data,…

Traditionally, the tech and biotech sectors in the U.S. have been concentrated in a handful of regions — most notably in areas such as Boston, Seattle, Silicon Valley and Southern California. But the Biden administration aims to distribute innovation more evenly through the U.S. To that end, the administration has designated 31 tech hubs across…

The White House has released an executive order that contains what it hails as “the most sweeping actions ever taken to protect Americans from the potential risks of AI systems.” Relevant to drug development, a fact sheet on the order describes its aim to help further “the responsible use of AI in healthcare and the…

The word “revolutionize” gets thrown around a lot in describing the potential of emerging technologies. But quantum computing could make good on the promise to disrupt healthcare applications ranging from drug discovery to medical imaging. Theoretically, a quantum computer with 300 quantum bits (qubits) could crunch more calculations in an instant than there are atoms…

In the realm of drug discovery, AI is making waves, and 2023 could potentially be a pivotal year for this technology. As the technology enters the popular consciousness, pharma employees are wondering “why they can’t have similar AI-driven tools for their professional tasks,” said Diane Wuest, head of digital R&D at Sanofi, in a recent…

Clinical-stage AI company Insilico Medicine has nominated a novel small molecule inhibitor known as ISM9274 as a preclinical candidate for cancer treatment. The company used its PandaOmics AI platform to analyze genomic data from more than 90 tumor types and identified CDK12 as a promising target for multiple cancers including triple-negative breast cancer, lung cancer,…

In drug discovery and development, data sources are as diverse as they are plentiful. There are comprehensive databases brimming with molecular targets, cellular processes, genomic sequences, proteomic profiles, and metabolite patterns that shed light on disease pathways. Data possibilities in the patient care realm are similarly vast, spanning electronic medical records, imaging datasets, and even…

The potential for artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning (ML) to reshape drug discovery and development is immense. From expediting learning and driving discoveries to managing large-scale data sets and generating fresh insights, the true scale of AI’s influence on the industry is only starting to be understood. But with great potential comes great responsibility.…