AI drug trials to scale up in 2019

Predictions are two a penny at this time of year, and no one will hold those who make the predictions to account. Tractica, a market intelligence agency, has put out a white paper with predictions on Artificial Intelligence in 2019. Amongst them is an expectation of advancement in AI-enabled drug trials.

Predictions are two a penny at this time of year, and no one will hold those who make the predictions to account. Tractica, a market intelligence agency, has put out a white paper with predictions on Artificial Intelligence in 2019. Amongst them is an expectation of advancement in AI-enabled drug trials.

AI-enabled pharmaceuticals will see multiple candidates reaching early trial phase

On average, getting a new drug to market takes 10 to 12 years at a cost of $2 to 3 billion. So AI in drug discovery is a very promising technology application, enabling vast amounts of clinical data, image scans, and molecular data to be brought together to find new and unexpected correlations. The majority of the innovation is coming from startups, according to Tractica, with more than 100 startups focused on AI for drug discovery.

Recursion Pharamaceuticals, for example, had its first AI-enabled drug trial going into Phase I clinical trials in 2018, and is expecting another 30 candidates to go to clinical trial over the next two years.