IBM introduces cloud-based AI platform RoboRXN to accelerate drug synthesis

Technological giant IBM has introduced a new AI platform called RoboRXN designed to support and assist scientists to discover and create new drugs in a shorter time-frame at reduced cost. As per Leifeng.com the AI platform RoboRXN can be seen as a novel chemical laboratory running on cloud. It’s like a virtual chemical lab.

The addition of this AI platform will be a great help for researchers around the world. The usage of computing prowess and technical power to speed up the process of drug discovery has been looked into, especially in the present-day COVID-19 scenario. With the availability of a computational modeling platform, the very essential step of transitioning the experimental drugs from the trial stage to acceptance by the relevant regulatory bodies is expected to become faster and more efficient.

According to research conducted on drug production, IBM observes that it takes a total of 10 years on an average for a new drug to be discovered and be made available on the market for consumption. Also, the average funding for this amounts to at least 10 million dollars.

The tech giant aims to reduce the time taken to one year and also bring down the funding to around 1 million dollars. The usage of an AI platform to accelerate the drug synthesis process seems to be a good way to go about it.

IBM has made the RoboRXN for Chemistry a free AI service. Scientists or researchers can log in to it easily through a web browser. In this virtual laboratory they can draw the molecular structure of the compound they want to create. The AI platform then uses machine learning algorithms to determine the necessary composition and the mixing sequence to be followed.

RoboRXN helps the scientists by finding the most optimum scientific route and also guides them to the most appropriate commercially available material to be started with. Once these data have been submitted, RoboRXN executes the process and the report of the result is sent to the scientists.

According to tests conducted by IBM, RoboRNX offers a 90% accuracy rate in predicting chemical reaction. Given its high accuracy and ease of usage, RoboRNX can be of great value to commercial drug production sector. It can bring down the production costs and also help in large production in a short time.

At a time when the world requires an immediate vaccine for COVID-19, an AI chemical laboratory could be of a great boon for the scientists and help them in faster drug trials. IBM has launched multiple AI tools across areas related to drug discovery, drug, and disease information related information search during the COVID-19 pandemic. These have been made free for clinicians and researchers to use.

The company has launched its own Functional Genomics Platform. In addition to this it has also introduced two platforms called Micromedex and EBSCO DynaMed for making faster and more accurate inquiries on drugs and clinical disease information. These two platforms help medical professionals to gain access to wide range of content related to infectious diseases including COVID.

Furthering the application of technology in the pharmaceutical domain, IBM has also pushed its supercomputer Summit, installed in the Oak Ridge National Laboratory (ORNL) of the US Department of Energy, to tackle major challenges in the health sector.