New research published in the journal Drug Discovery Today reveals that drugs discovered through artificial intelligence (AI) have a significantly higher success rate in Phase I clinical trials (80-90%) compared to those discovered by humans (40-65%). This study, the first to analyse the industry-wide pipeline of AI-discovered drugs and vaccines, also found that AI-discovered drugs had a ~40% success rate in Phase II, aligning with industry averages despite a limited sample size. Overall, the probability of a molecule’s success from initial discovery through all clinical phases increases from 5-10% to 9-18% with AI.
The researchers highlighted this as a major breakthrough, nearly doubling the productivity of pharmaceutical R&D, making the development of new medicines faster, better, and cheaper. AI’s transformative impact extends across various health tech areas, outpacing regulatory developments.
In response to this rapid advancement, the UK’s Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency (MHRA) introduced AI Airlock, a new regulatory sandbox for AI as a Medical Device (AIaMD). This initiative aims to address regulatory challenges by supporting four to six virtual or real-world AIaMD projects, enabling the health body to test and refine regulatory processes for AI used in direct clinical applications within the NHS.
Poolbeg Pharma plc (LON:POLB) is a clinical stage infectious disease pharmaceutical company, with a novel capital light clinical model which enables us to develop multiple products faster and more cost effectively than the traditional biotech model.
