Artificial Intelligence in the Pharma Industry

Artificial intelligence is defined as interconnected and automated technology that can function with little or no human intervention. In the pharmacy industry, it can help in drug development, diagnosis and even patient care.

According to “The State of AI: Artificial Intelligence in Business”, 62% of businesses are thinking of investing in artificial intelligence (AI) soon. About 20% of the businesses have already used artificial intelligence for replacing new workers in the past year (2019).

The 10 Big Pharma companies (Novartis, Roche, Pfizer, Merck, AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline, Sanofi, Abbvie, Bristol-Myers Squibb and Johnson & Johnson) have either collaborated with or acquired AI technology for business purposes.

The giant European pharmaceutical company F. Hoffmann-La Roche AG, has partnered with Owkin, the French data science, and AI firm involved in drug discovery, development, and trials.

Roche also bought Flatiron to use AI to accelerate cancer research and improve patient care; Syapse on AI-powered healthcare software and precision medicine; and, GNS Healthcare.

The cost of developing a new drug is around $1.2 billion. Using artificial intelligence has the potential to decrease the costs of new drugs R&D spend, which for the 10 biggest Pharma firms is close to $70 billion annually.

In 2018, Bayer announced an artificial intelligence collaboration with Cyclica to invest in discovery of peptide drugs. Through this partnership, Bayer will take advantage of Cyclica’s platform to gain more insights into the pharmacological profiles of small molecules.

Bayer and Merck AI Partnership helps radiologists identify patients with chronic pulmonary hypertension faster. This partnership will also aid in drug targeting, diagnosis, and patient identification. They have an AI-driven software that will redefine clinical decision-making of CTEPH, a rare form of pulmonary hypertension. The software will search through images of pulmonary vessels, lung perfusion, and cardiac check-ups, and the clinical history of the patient. This will help radiologists analyze the images quickly and efficiently.

Novartis, is also using AI technology for drug development; especifically, they use AI to gather and analyze clinical trial data. One very notable use of AI by Novartis is using a computer algorithm to recognize changes in cells when these are treated with compounds.

Boehringer Ingelheim partnered with AI tech company Bactevo to help with its drug discovery efforts. The AI technology will increase efficiency, speed, and quality of drug discovery.

They will have a reduction in the time it takes to deliver a drug to the market for treatment of conditions caused by defects in mitochondrial function. It brings together the drug research experience at Boehringer and their discovery platform for ALS, Parkinson’s disease and Alzheimer’s disease.

In conclusion, drug discovery and recruiting of employees are just some of the benefits of AI technology in the pharmaceutical industry realm. In the future, artificial intelligence will increase production and will benefit patients who need medications that are not in existence at the moment and those who need personalized medicine.

• Kimberly Parada

References:

Bulgaru I, Iolanda, Iolanda, Matshazi. Pharma Industry in the Age of Artificial Intelligence: The Future is Bright. Healthcare Weekly. https://healthcareweekly.com/artificial-intelligence-in-pharmacology/. Published March 30, 2019. Accessed April 22, 2020.