Artificial intelligence is poised to “revolutionize” drug discovery, according to chipmaker Nvidia.
Nvidia announced a pilot project with Danish pharmaceutical giant Novo Nordisk to use its new AI-powered supercomputer, underscoring AI’s growing role in accelerating the development of new medicines.
Speaking at the launch event, Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang, emphasized the transformative potential of computer-aided drug discovery. “I think this is going to revolutionize the industry,” Huang said, futher highlighting how AI can help researchers design vaccines and analyze genetic mutations more efficiently, according to a Bloomberg report.
AI systems can now scan millions of potential drug compounds to determine their effectiveness for treating diseases, a task that would traditionally take months of lab work. One of the most notable advances in this area is Google DeepMind’s AlphaFold software, which accurately predicts the structure and behavior of proteins — a complex task that recently earned the developers a Nobel Prize in Chemistry.
Scientists say AI’s greatest advantages in drug discovery lie in its speed and cost-efficiency. But there are concerns that it has the potential to significantly shorten this timeline by using machine learning to sift through vast amounts of data, predict how compounds will interact with the body, and filter out unsuccessful candidates early in the process.
The result is a faster and cheaper path to drug development.
Babatunde Philips