AstraZeneca partners on AI drug discovery collaboration
AstraZeneca has begun collaborating with UK-headquartered artificial intelligence (AI) company BenevolentAI to use AI and machine learning for the discovery and development of new treatments.
The collaboration, which was announced on Tuesday, April 30, will see scientists from the two companies working to discover treatments for chronic kidney disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.
AstraZeneca’s genomics, chemistry and clinical data will be combined with BenevolentAI’s target identification platform and biomedical knowledge graph.
Mene Pangalos, executive vice president and president biopharmaceuticals research and development, said: “The vast amount of data available to research scientists is growing exponentially each year.
“By combining AstraZeneca’s disease area expertise and large, diverse datasets with BenevolentAI’s leading AI and machine learning capabilities, we can unlock the potential of this wealth of data to improve our understanding of complex disease biology and identify new targets that could treat debilitating diseases.”
While machine learning systematically analyses data to find connections between facts, AI-based reasoning is used to extrapolate previously unknown connections.
AstraZeneca and BenevolentAI will “interpret the results to understand the underlying mechanisms of these complex diseases and more quickly identify new potential drug targets”, said the press release.
Joanna Shields, CEO of BenevolentAI, added that millions of people today suffer from diseases that have no effective treatment.
She said: “The future of drug discovery and development lies in bridging the gap between AI, data, and biology. We are thrilled to be joining forces with AstraZeneca to develop new insights and identify promising new treatments for chronic kidney disease and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis.”
The global healthcare AI market is expected to surpass $13 billion by 2025, according to market research company Global Market Insights.
Earlier this year, LSIPR reported that Novartis and the University of Oxford’s Big Data Institute had joined forces to use artificial intelligence (AI) for improving drug development, initially in the areas of multiple sclerosis, dermatology and rheumatology.
The UK government and the life sciences industry have also partnered to develop new technology using AI to detect diseases at an early stage, as part of the government’s second Life Sciences Sector Deal, with investment from over ten companies to support the project.
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