AI is helping get new medicines to patients sooner. Here’s how

You don't need a medical degree to understand the importance of receiving drugs when you need them.

When patients face delays, the consequences can affect both short-term illnesses and chronic conditions. Essential medications can curb the spread of infections and disease, reduce pain, and help people return to their daily lives and work more quickly. And if you've ever watched an episode of "The Pitt," you know that alleviating the burden on crowded hospitals allows staff to focus on patients with more serious ailments.

The good news is that artificial intelligence can significantly increase the speed at which pharmaceutical companies test, manufacture and distribute medications to the people who rely on them.

AI is helping eliminate some of the industry's biggest bottlenecks: finding the right drug and proving it works in trials, says Dan Sheeran, vice president and general manager of Healthcare and Life Sciences at Amazon Web Services (AWS).

"For patients, that's years of waiting for a treatment that may already be in the development pipeline but hasn't made it through discovery, clinical trials and approval," says Sheeran.

To discover a new therapy, scientists must search through a near-infinite chemical space for molecules that are both effective and safe.

Original source: https://www.usatoday.com/money/