Ray Chohan co-founder and vice president of new ventures at innovation intelligence expert Patsnap looks at technology’s ability to expedite the analysis of data in pharma and how it can help bring about new therapies for patients.
The central role of AI and machine learning in drug and vaccine development is now widely recognised within the pharma industry. What’s less well known is technology’s ability to expedite the time taken to gather valuable data and explore both patent and intellectual property rights relating to particular molecular structures.
Prior to the outbreak of Covid-19, the time taken to develop a new drug or vaccine could take upwards of a decade. Granted, peer reviews, the roll-out of field testing and international approvals were key barriers to speeding up the process, but what is not widely appreciated is the quiet revolution that has taken place in the area of early-stage drug research - specifically where patents and IP are concerned. Until the past few years, this was typically a very manual process that took highly trained researchers months to undertake.