The healthcare and pharmaceutical industries are currently experiencing a digital evolution that is projecting them forwards into the digital age and revealing useful technologies we had previously never heard of.
One of the front-runners in this discover is artificial intelligence, a technology that involves developing computer systems to enable them to perform tasks that usually require human intelligence.
Over the last five years, the use of artificial intelligence in the Pharma industry has completed transformed the way chemists, medication researchers and engineers deal with many different things.
This includes how they develop new medicine, tackle diseases, enforce medication adherence, interpret clinical data, and identify the appropriate patients that should be accepted into a medication trial.
While these things can be performed by humans, doing so takes far longer than teaching an automated system to perform in the same way.
It’s thought that continuing to develop these artificial intelligence systems over the next decade will leave us looking at a completely transformed Pharma industry.
You may not know, however, that the Pharma industry already uses artificial intelligence in 2019.
There are lots of healthcare and pharmaceutical innovations that simply wouldn’t have been possible without it.
Here are just some of the interesting uses we have for AI technology today.
CTEPH Pattern Recognition Artificial Intelligence Software
CTEPH is a rare, chronic form of pulmonary hypertension that affects approximately 5 individuals per million annually around the globe.
This can have a serious impact on someone’s ability to maintain a good quality of life, and continue with tasks that they would have done easily before they developed the condition.
Previously, diagnosing this condition was not easy, but with the help of AI technology, it may be getting easier.
It officially received FDA clearance to help detect CTEPH in late 2018, so effects of the software can already be seen today.
This software was developed by two big Pharma companies, Merck & Co., and Bayer.
The artificial intelligence software works by using machine learning to comb through image findings from pulmonary vessels, lung perfusion, and cardiac check-ups.
The software also has access to the full clinical history of the patient.
This goes on to aid radiologists, who can use the information gathered by artificial intelligence to quickly and efficiently focus in on patients with chronic thromboembolic pulmonary hypertension.
Using this technology, radiologists can get the information they need faster, leading to more accurate diagnosis. Check out this in-depth article on how these radiologists use AI in 2019. Truly fascinating stuff!
It’s well known that earlier diagnosis improves the chances of a full recovery for those suffering from CTEPH, so it isn’t unreasonable to suggest that artificial intelligence could be crucial in saving lives in the future.
Artificial Intelligence Bots
A Pharma business has recently announced the launch of two interactive virtual-assistance bots.
They use artificial intelligence to continuously learn and make intelligent recommendations when interacting with a variety of people within the healthcare industry.
This includes life science companies, healthcare providers, physicians, care teams, and even the patient themselves.
These bots aim to improve a patient’s health and overall customer experience by providing them with an easy way to control their health.
They are personalized to the individual, and interactive, allowing the individual to engage with any member of their care team whenever they are needed.
To promote better health and customer experiences, these devices also encourage continued engagement between healthcare professionals and their patients, meaning health conditions are managed better with less intervention in a patient’s day to day life.
Artificial intelligence is cleverer than this, however, and these devices can also be used to perform some basic healthcare functions.
These include medication reminders, tracking the vitals of the patient, and the ability for patients to use the bot to schedule appointments when needed.
ALS & Alzheimer Treatment Effect Tester Software
There is a big demand in the Big Pharma industry for advanced technology that makes it easier to development treatments for complex conditions that we currently know little about.
ALS and Alzheimer’s are just two diseases of many that currently have a great negative impact on the lives of American’s, destroying the quality of life extremely quickly once the disease takes control.
Verge Genomics, however, have used artificial intelligence software to automate their medication discovery process, which has already proved successful in finding and testing medicine to help these conditions.
Lots of medication discoveries fail because they only target one disease gene at a time, but by relying heavily on artificial intelligence to gather and analyse data, Verge Genomics has been able to overcome this.
A large of this has been by using the same technologies that Google’s search engines use, which has allowed them to map out the hundreds of genes that are responsible for causing specific diseases.
They can then use this information to more accurately find medications to target them all at once.
This company specifically focuses on neurological diseases and has made promising advances with ALS and Alzheimer’s, but only time will tell what major impact this will have on the neurological pharmaceutical industry as a whole.
Monitoring Software For Patients With Parkinson’s
Tencent Holdings has recently partnered with a UK-based Pharma company called Medopad to build an artificial intelligence algorithm that can remotely monitor patients with Parkinson’s disease.
The aim of this is primarily to reduce how long it takes to conduct a motor function assessment, from over 30 minutes long to less than 3 minutes.
They use artificial intelligence software on smartphone apps that can use learned knowledge to monitor how a patient opens and closes their hands.
This works by the smartphone camera capturing a patient’s movements to determine the severity of their symptoms.
This software will focus on the frequency and amplitude scores of the patient to determine the severity of Parkinson’s disease as a whole.
This software allows doctors to remotely monitor patients, and set new medicine doses were needed to accompany new or worsening symptoms in the said patient.
It also alerts the patient’s doctor when their treatment program may need to change, allowing them to arrange an appointment if they feel that one is required.
