GSK & AstraZeneca Discuss Drug R&D AI Revolution

As healthcare professionals grapple with the challenges of treating complex diseases, AI is offering new hope by accelerating research processes and uncovering unexpected applications for existing medications.

At the forefront of this revolution are pharmaceutical giants such as GSK and AstraZeneca, who are harnessing AI to analyse vast datasets and identify promising drug candidates with unprecedented speed and accuracy. 

This is not only streamlining the drug development pipeline but also potentially reducing the astronomical costs associated with bringing new treatments to market.

One of the most exciting developments in this field is the use of AI to repurpose existing drugs for new indications. 

For example, a recent study presented by GSK at the Alzheimer's Association's international conference in Philadelphia revealed that the company’s shingles vaccine, Shingrix, was associated with a 24% decrease in dementia risk. This finding, corroborated by a separate study from the University of Oxford, was made possible through the application of AI to a database of 100 million anonymised health records.

AI 'able to crunch millions of healthcare data points'

Patrick Schwab, GSK's Senior Director of Machine Learning and Artificial Intelligence, explained the process to The Sunday Times: "With 100 million people's records, we're talking about terabytes of data." he added that the AI algorithm was able to adjust for nearly 400 variables, ensuring the results were not skewed by factors such as age, weight, and mental health. 

"This is uniquely possible because we used machine learning," Schwab explained. 

The implications of the discovery are far reaching. For decades,  scientists had believed there was a link between the herpes virus (which causes shingles) and Alzheimer's disease but the cost of clinical trials to prove the theory was prohibitive. 

AI, though, is cost-effective and is opening new avenues for Alzheimer's prevention and treatment.

Similarly, AI is being used to investigate why diabetes medications might reduce the risk of Parkinson's and other degenerative diseases. This cross-disease analysis could lead to breakthroughs in treating multiple conditions with a single drug.

The technology is also proving invaluable in salvaging seemingly failed drug candidates. 

GSK's Scott on how AI resurrected diabetes trial

Robert Scott, GSK's Head of Genetics and Genomics also told the Sunday Times how AI analysis has reinvigorated a diabetes drug that had failed clinical trials. 

He explained how, by examining millions of data points, the company was able to identify eczema as a potential alternative application for the drug, and that this application is now in phase 2 trials.

Meanwhile, AstraZeneca’s Jim Weatherall – VP of Data Science and AI – also speaking to the Sunday Times – tells how AI is reducing the risk associated with drug development. 

He said: "We end up doing fewer clinical trials with a greater probability of success." This increased efficiency could significantly reduce the time and cost of bringing new drugs to market.”

AstraZeneca is partnering with AI research companies including Absci and Benevolent AI to accelerate drug discovery. Such collaborations leverage the technology’s ability to observe protein interactions in diseased cells and design molecules to combat specific conditions.