Page 98 - Fortune-November 01, 2018

ar tifi c i al intelli gence + heal th and wellne s s

REINVENTINGDRUG R&D REVERSING
DISEASE

THE MEDICINE BUSINESS IS FILLED WITH TWISTS OF FATE. A drug may appear safe for humans in
early studies with small groups of patients only to crash and burn in spectacularly expensive fashion in AMERICA’S HEALTH
a large-scale clinical trial. In fact, return on investment for the largest biopharmaceutical companies in care system has
been criticized for
the U.S. fell to a dismal 3.2% in 2017, according to Deloitte. Which is why American companies like BERG
and Roivant Sciences and U.K.-based Exscientia want to harness the power of A.I. to better deploy re- favoring triage over
sources. BERG has partnered with major drugmakers like AstraZeneca and Sanofi Pasteur to use clinical cheaper, proactive
data fed through an algorithm to identify promising biological targets for drugs and molecules that may approaches—and
businesses pay
be able to treat diseases like Parkinson’s. Sanofi is also analyzing huge amounts of data to gain a deeper
understanding of why certain flu vaccines are effective for some people but not for others (a critical the price in lost
public health question considering last year’s devastating flu season). A.I. as a central medicine-making productivity and
tool is still in its early stages. But the promise is clear: Being able to funnel pharma R&D efforts to the skyrocketing health
care costs. Virta
most promising targets can avoid a huge waste of time and money and, hopefully one day, lead to a more
streamlined drug development process that benefits companies and patients alike. —Sy Mukherjee Health CEO Sami
Inkinen is taking
a different tack,
using A.I. to prevent
patients at risk
for diabetes from
developing the full-
blown disease and,
in early trials, even
reversing Type 2
diabetes through
its purely digital
platform. Virta aims
to shift customers’
lifestyles by con-
necting them with
coaches who give
them personalized
recommendations
on diet and other
factors. It also
provides digitally
connected tools
to measure blood
sugar, ketones,
blood pressure, and
weight. Using a pa-
tient’s anticipated
blood sugar and
weight improve-
ment, clinicians can
prioritize patients
in their hourly
workflow. Virta is
not alone: IBM’s
Watson Health unit
and medtech giant
Medtronic are
collaborating on an
app called Sugar.IQ
that offers similar
tools. —S.M.

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