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AI-powered drug discovery captures pharma interest

Nature Biotechnology volume 35, pages 604–605 (2017)Cite this article

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The industry's willingness to consider AI approaches reflects the reality that drug discovery is laborious, time consuming and not particularly effective. A two-decade-long downward trend in clinical success rates has only recently improved (Nat. Rev. Drug Disc. 15, 379–380, 2016). Still, today, only about one in ten drugs that enter phase 1 clinical trials reaches patients. Half those failures are due to a lack of efficacy, says Jackie Hunter, CEO of BenevolentBio, a division of BenevolentAI of London. “That tells you we're not picking the right targets,” she says. “Even a 5 or 10% reduction in efficacy failure would be amazing.” Hunter's views on AI in drug discovery are featured in Ernst & Young's Biotechnology Report 2017 released last month.

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    Eric Smalley

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Smalley, E. AI-powered drug discovery captures pharma interest. Nat Biotechnol 35, 604–605 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0717-604

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