Could machine learning and artificial intelligence help create new drugs to fight the COVID-19 pandemic and possibly prevent the next pandemic?
A new partnership between Cary, NC based SAS, which is an industry leader in computer analytics and software services, and the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill aims to find out.
The partnership is focused on the University’s Rapidly Emerging Antiviral Drug Development Initiative (READDI). The program is developing broad spectrum antiviral drugs to have on the shelf to prevent future pandemics
The partnership works like this. SAS research and development teams apply advanced machine learning techniques to study biological samples taken from the lungs of severely ill COVID-19 patients. Those biological data sets include genetic information, virus counts, and other medical information.
These analyses will be used by Carolina researchers to identify targets for new COVID-19 antiviral drugs. Machine learning can provide initial indications of a drug’s effectiveness and possible side effects before more advanced development is started.
“SAS strives to create a healthier world through analytics,” SAS Chief Executive Officer Jim Goodnight told the online publication TechInvest. “SAS has been the gold standard for clinical trial submission for decades, providing the data analysis for medicines that have helped countless patients. We look forward to working with READDI to deploy our most advanced technologies to accelerate drug discovery and support global health efforts to get ahead of the next pandemic.”
While the partnership is initially focused on developing new treatments for COVID-19, READDI and SAS will also work together to accelerate drug discovery for other antiviral drugs.
“What COVID-19 taught us is the importance of being ready, not reactive,” said John Bamforth, Director of the Eshelman Institute for Innovation at the UNC Eshelman School of Pharmacy at UNC-Chapel Hill. “We want to make sure that during the next pandemic we are prepared with approved drugs and therapeutics to allow the public health system to respond effectively.”
READDI was founded by the School of Pharmacy, UNC School of Medicine and Gillings School of Global Public Health School.
READDI collaborates with industry, government, philanthropic organizations and academic research institutions to speed up the development of new antiviral drugs to bring potentially lifesaving drugs to market sooner.