AI Uncovers a Potential Treatment for Covid-19 Patients
LATE ONE JANUARY afternoon, British pharmacologist Peter Richardson ran out of his home office and told his wife, “Got it!” She asked what he was talking about and offered a cup of tea. Richardson explained that he had identified a drug that might help people infected with a new virus spreading in China.
Richardson’s dash was prompted by a finding from artificial intelligence software developed by his employer, BenevolentAI, a London startup where he is vice president of pharmacology. The company has created a kind of search engine on steroids that combines drug industry data with nuggets gleaned from scientific research papers. Using the software, Richardson had identified a rheumatoid arthritis drug that might dampen some of the most severe effects of the new virus, an illness now known as Covid-19.
The virus, and that idea, have advanced rapidly in the weeks since. In February, Richardson and others at BenevolentAI published two research papers laying out their hypothesis and supporting evidence. They caught the attention of Eli Lilly, which markets the arthritis drug, known as baricitinib, under the brand name Olumiant.
This week, Lilly announced it is working with the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases on a large clinical trial of the drug in hospitalized Covid-19 patients. Patrik Jonsson, president of Lilly’s biomedicines division, says his group hadn’t previously thought of baricitinib as an infectious disease treatment. “I think Covid-19 in many ways will change the way we’re getting work done,” he says.
The clinical trial should begin in the US this month and could expand to include patients in Europe and Asia. Results are expected as soon as late June. Jonsson says it usually takes years to design, organize, and launch a trial.
The rapid progression from initial idea to clinical trial shows how widely researchers and drug companies are looking as they scramble to stem the coronavirus pandemic. “I can’t guarantee that baricitinib will work out OK, but there’s huge unmet need,” Jonsson says. “We don’t know how to treat these patients.”
The tale also highlights the potential for computing and artificial intelligence to help that effort. Since the 1950s, the time and cost of developing new drugs have increased exponentially, partly because of higher safety standards. Some investors and pharmaceutical companies believe computing power and algorithms can shorten the development cycle in some cases.
Lilly and fellow drug giant Pfizer have partnerships with Silicon Valley startup Atomwise, which uses machine-learning technology to find novel compounds that target particular biological molecules. Last year Atomwise helped Stanford researchers find a way to target an enzyme that they had discovered accumulates in the cells of patients with Parkinson’s Disease. […]
Wired
Curb Coronavirus Spread With Blockchain App
Researchers in Spain are racing to develop a smartphone app that leverages blockchain technology and artificial intelligence to help stem the coronavirus pandemic.
A team of more than 100 researchers from the Institute of Biomedical Research of Salamanca, the University of Salamanca and the Artificial Intelligence Research Institute are developing the app to predict the evolution of the COVID-19 outbreak, as well as ensuring government measures are being adhered to.
The app, which is currently at the proof-of-concept stage, would potentially also allow for health officials to make smarter decisions. For example, if there’s an increase in the number of COVID-19 cases, officials can choose to order citizens to stay at home.
Using blockchain technology enables the app to give each participant a “digital identity” controlled by a private key that brings access a digital version of paper certificates issued by the government. These allow the confirmed healthy to leave home to buy food or to work, according to two lead researchers Juan Manuel Corchado and Javier Prieto, who spoke to IEEE Spectrum for a report on Thursday.
See also: How I’m Coping With Spain’s Coronavirus Lockdown
Corchado and Prieto said the team hopes to find the primary factors affecting the deadly coronavirus outbreak.
“With our app we are trying to provide information gathered about the coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic and the evolution of the virus,” Corchado and Prieto said. “We are also trying to support medical professionals and government officials about decisions they need to make regarding the pandemic, including social distancing and quarantine measures.” […]
Coindesk
Code Against COVID
Codementor, an online education platform for software developers, is launching Code Against COVID-19 to match volunteers with software projects to fight the pandemic. The initiative, which Codementor is not making money from, wants to connect coders with universities, non-profits, local government agencies and other organizations.
Some of the programs Code Against COVID-19 is currently working with include Safe Paths and Covid Watch, both of which are developing tools to stop the spread of COVID-19 while safeguarding personal privacy. It has also connected developers to grassroots projects like Hospital@home and a UX designer working on a geofencing app to stop the spread of the novel coronavirus.
Codementor’s platform includes hundreds of thousands of developers around the world. After seeing that many organizations and government agencies needed coders to work on COVID-19-related software, Codementor surveyed its community. Founder and CEO Weiting Liu said 98% of respondents said they were willing to donate their skills, and Code Against COVID-19 was created to quickly match coders to projects.
So far, more than 200 developers have signed up to work for free or for longer-term projects at a discount. […]
Yahoo Finance
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