BiopharmaTrend.com

(Edited version of this post originally appeared in Forbes)

“It is not the strongest of the species that survives, nor the most intelligent, but the one most adaptable to change” -- Leon C. Megginson

Last year brought about new hope and even more hype around the idea of applying artificial intelligence (AI) for “revolutionizing” drug discovery research -- via machines being able to “learn” chemistry and biology from vast amounts of experimental data to propose potent drug candidates, accurately predict their properties and possible toxicity risks. It is supposed to dramatically minimize failures in clinical trials -- saving R&D budgets, time, and most importantly, lives of patients.

Artificial intelligence (AI) has become a hot topic in the biopharmaceutical environment and nearly every pharma company in the world has embraced it hoping that it will play a major role in speeding up drug discovery, by reducing R&D costs and avoiding failure in late development stages. According to prospects, AI-driven drug discovery will lead to the development of new and more effective drugs, paving thus the way to personalized medicine.

Being under ever-increasing pressure to compete in a challenging economic and technological environment, pharmaceutical and biotech companies must continually innovate in their R&D programmes to stay ahead of the game.

External innovations come in different forms and originate in different places -- from university labs, to privately held venture capital-backed startups and contract research organizations (CROs). Let’s get to reviewing some of the most influential research trends which will be “hot” in 2018 and beyond, and summarize some of the key players driving innovations.

Nowadays, the brightest innovations usually happen at the intersection of different disciplines and technologies. A recent scientific achievement by Dr. Carsten Krieg, a researcher at Hollings Cancer Center (HCC), Medical University of South Carolina, is not an exception to this observation.
With an ambitious goal in mind to advance the field of cancer immunotherapy, Dr. Krieg combines a very powerful analytical technique -- mass cytometry, with artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and bioinformatics tools to visualize the obtained experimental data and have a bird’s-eye view of the immune system.