AI is inventing new medicines

Yes, of course, AI is scary. But there is one field where this technique is a dream: biochemistry. Researchers have just introduced new therapeutic antibodies, designed entirely by AI to target specific bacteria or viruses. A feat unimaginable a few years ago.

Hervé Poirier, editor-in-chief of a scientific journal epsilon, Today tells us about a feat: for the first time, artificial intelligence has succeeded in creating new antibodies.

franceinfo: Does this feat open the way to new drugs? Explain us…

Herve Poirier: Antibodies are our natural defenses. These molecules are produced naturally by our immune system, after exposure to bacteria or viruses: they then allow it to detect and neutralize these pathogens.

These immune proteins can also be used for vaccines or drugs, but usually such laboratory creation is a very time-consuming and expensive process – the therapeutic antibody market is worth hundreds of billions of dollars.

Thanks to the new power of AI, a team of American biochemists has just suddenly introduced thousands of new antibodies, which are believed to specifically target the Covid-19 virus, the flu or certain cancers. Laboratory tests show that only one molecule in 100 works as hoped, but that still leaves dozens of potential new therapeutic molecules. It is absolutely stunning…

How was this achievement achieved?

The algorithm is similar to the one that allows the production of these hyper-realistic images that we have seen developing in recent months on the networks. It was specifically trained on thousands of real molecules to predict what geometric shape a protein takes based on its chemical formula.

Because this is the key point for an antibody: by presenting a shape that perfectly complements part of the virus or bacteria, it succeeds in sticking to and neutralizing it. The problem is that it is very difficult to predict the shape of a given molecule, by theoretical calculation. This AI gets there. Better yet, she can find the chemical formula corresponding to the desired form. Indeed B.LUfant

So, with plenty of potential therapeutic applications?

For now, this is proof of theory. But yes: these new AIs promise to reinvent the way new drugs are manufactured. In addition to antibodies, they have recently made it possible to discover new antibiotics, new enzymes, new psychoactive molecules.

The field is buzzing. Let’s admit it: these machines capable of producing false, hyper-realistic images on an assembly line are a little scary. But in biochemistry this technology is a dream.