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Over the past few decades, very few new antibiotics have been developed, and most of those newly approved antibiotics are slightly different variants of existing drugs. Current methods for screening new antibiotics are often prohibitively costly, require a significant time investment, and are usually limited to a narrow spectrum of chemical diversity…In this case, the researchers designed their model to look for chemical features that make molecules effective at killing E. coli… This molecule…halicin…The researchers…found that it was able to kill many that are resistant to treatment, including Clostridium difficile, Acinetobacter baumannii, and Mycobacterium tuberculosis…“This groundbreaking work signifies a paradigm shift in antibiotic discovery and indeed in drug discovery more generally,”…READ MORE

Artificial intelligence has become a crucial part of our technological infrastructure and the brain underlying many consumer devices....This progress has sparked the use of AI in drug discovery and development...Artificial intelligence can improve efficiency and outcomes in drug development across therapeutic areas...Misapplication of these technologies, however, can have unintended harmful consequences. To see how a good idea can turn bad, just look at what’s happened with social media...The FDA has already issued several proposals around the regulation of AI products, and it now has an opportunity to build on these efforts. The Center for Devices and Radiological Health has reviewed and cleared a number of devices that use AI. The center has also released a proposed framework, “Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning in Software as a Medical Device.” These proposals, though, don’t necessarily apply to AI-based tools used as part of the drug development process. As a result, biopharmaceutical and technology companies aren’t sure how these tools fit into current regulatory frameworks..READ MORE