INNOVATION IN DRUG DISCOVERY

Xeureka, a subsidiary of Mitsui & Co., recently announced improvements in its artificial intelligence (AI) models for drug discovery, boosting accuracy from 65% to 74% by leveraging Fortanix and NVIDIA's Confidential Computing technologies. Utilizing the latest advancements in data science and computer hardware, Xeureka effectivelyremoved sensitive and confidential information from a multi-source dataset,overcoming one of the largest barriers to the development of AI in healthcare.

MEDICAL APPLICATION OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Partners Paige & Microsoft have announced the launch of Virchow2, the second largest cancer pathology AI model to date. Utilizing over 3 million path slides and trained using de-identified data from over 225,000patients, these models set a new record in AI trainingscale, surpassing previous performance standards, as showcased in a recent technical report. This enormousdataset, created in collaboration with Microsoft, offersunparalleled diversity and depth, including over 40tissue types stained with H& E and diverse immunestains (IHC), making it suited to a wider variety of applications.

REGULATION OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

The FDA has recently provided 510(k) clearances for several AI-powered diagnostic tools, including products from AISAP and MRIMath. AISAP's CARDIO software can diagnose up to 90% of common cardiacstructural and functional parameters at the bedsidewith high accuracy, demonstrating 93% sensitivity and specificity in clinical trials. MRIMath's i2Contour device for glioblastomamanagement has markedly increased efficiency by saving up to an hour per imaging study and achieved95% accuracy for T1C sequences, offering substantial improvements in patient care and reducing inter-uservariability.

REGULATION OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly integrating AI into their research, but the FDA is still determining its regulatory role, aiming to issue guidance later this year.At a recent meeting with industry executives andacademics, data quality, transparency and explicabilitywere identified as major challenges to creating apredictable regulatory environment for emerging technologies. To expedite the process of regulatory adoption, FDA officials have encouraged companies to bring AI pilot programs to the agency to ensure new solutions meet standards throughout the development process.

REGULATION OF EMERGING TECHNOLOGY

Inspired by the influx of AI and ML applications in medicine, a systematic review of academic studies on emerging technology recently identified theimportance of evaluating the data quality within new tools as part of the regulatory approval process. From an analysis of 5408 studies, 120 eligible records weresynthesized to develop the METRIC-framework, aspecialized data quality framework designed to improve the trustworthiness of AI in medicine,incorporating 15 dimensions to evaluate medical ML training datasets.

INNOVATION IN DRUG DISCOVERY

Sanofi, Formation Bio, and OpenAI recently announced their partnership in developing AI-powered software for the pharmaceutical industry, using Sanofi’s proprietary data in the creation of industry-tuned AI models to optimize drug discovery. Initial focus areas for collaboration will include the design of new drug compounds, identifying existing drugs with repurposing potential, and optimizing clinical trial processes. In 2023, AI applications enabled Sanofi to identify 90 new drug targets, advance seven in its pipeline,and expedite molecule progression in 12 therapeutic indications, which the new partnership will continue to build upon.