Most likely, you’ve heard of artificial intelligence being used to create stunningly realistic “deep fake” photos or writing essays for college admissions. However, AI in health crises to address some of our most pressing health concerns receives less attention.
The Danger of Superbugs Resistant to Drugs
Think about the potential for intelligent application of AI to provide researchers with the means to tackle the rise in antibiotic-resistant “superbugs.”
It is estimated that by 2050, superbugs—fungi and bacteria resistant to contemporary treatments—will account for 10 million annual deaths, surpassing cancer as the leading cause of death.
The Promise of AI in Drug Discovery
Fortunately, AI in health crises offers hope for a new era of rapid therapeutic discovery, providing humans a competitive advantage over superbugs. The public and private sectors must work together to research, approve, and distribute these novel treatments before time runs out if we are to succeed.
Superbugs have been linked to around 173,000 American fatalities in 2019 alone, and approximately 5 million deaths worldwide.
Numerous sizable pharmaceutical corporations have stopped researching and developing new antimicrobials in spite of this concerning reality. It’s not that there isn’t scientific potential; rather, the process is time-consuming, expensive, and frequently not commercially feasible because of the particular difficulties associated with the use of antibiotics. In fact, since 2017, every small business that the FDA approved for a new antibiotic has either filed for bankruptcy, been purchased, or closed its doors.
Addressing the Dual Challenge
To address this issue, we must tackle it from both ends: optimizing the discovery and development of new treatments and reforming the flawed antibiotic market with innovative incentives.
The company’s involvement in the battle is centered on the first element in collaboration with academic partners. Using AI algorithms, we are creating new classes of medicines to combat the most pressing threats. AI can finish significant discovery tasks in a couple of days or weeks, when human researchers might need months or even years to finish them.
The Process of Discovery Driven by AI
In order to find the compounds that prevent bacterial growth, infections are subjected to hundreds of distinct compounds with varied structures by researchers. An AI model that forecasts which special chemical compounds will work as well as the others is constructed using the data.
The AI model then evaluates millions to billions of potential chemical structures to determine which are most likely. This virtual screening can be completed in an afternoon, but more labor-intensive traditional methods, such as real petri dish tests, would be needed.
Advancing Drug Development Next, using a combination of computational and biological knowledge, scientists verify the best choices. AI has the potential to cut the approximate 4.5-year time span from drug discovery to the pre-investigation phases down to 2.5 years. Artificial intelligence (AI) has the potential to reduce research expenses to a third of their usual levels, notwithstanding the cost of the requisite processing power. This would allow for the pursuit of antimicrobial treatments that might otherwise be unfeasible.
The Financial Obstacle
These developments put us in a position to find potent new antibiotics. However, there is little incentive for development due to the special economics of these superbug medicines.
The Need for the Government to Intervene
Antibiotics make it difficult for businesses to recover the high expenditures involved in bringing a novel antibiotic to market due to their short treatment durations, limited utility, and low reimbursement rates.
The Pasteur Law
Furthermore, government intervention is needed. For instance, a subscription-style strategy is suggested by the bipartisan PASTEUR Act, which was reintroduced in April of last year and would ensure companies developing valuable new antibiotics appropriate returns on investment while promoting the responsible use of these medications.
Cooperating to Create a Sustainable Future
People are hopeful that technological advancement will allow us to surpass antibiotic resistance. But to achieve this, a diversified approach including advanced early-stage development and a revivified market is needed. It is essential to the future of modern medicine.
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