“A recently published analysis by BCG found at least 75 ‘AI-discovered molecules’ have entered clinical trials with many more expected.

‘That they are now routinely going into clinical trials is a major milestone,’ says Dr Meier. The next – and ‘even bigger milestone’ – will be when they start to come out the other end.

However, Prof Deane notes that there is no definition yet of what exactly counts as an ‘AI discovered’ drug and, in all the examples to date, there has still been lots of human involvement.

There are two steps within the drug discovery process where AI is being most heavily deployed explains Dr Meier.

The first is in identifying, at the molecular level, the therapeutic target that it is intended the drug will act to correct, such as a certain gene or protein being altered by the disease in a way it shouldn’t.

While traditionally scientists test potential targets in the lab experimentally, based on what they understand of a disease, AI can be trained to mine large databases to make connections between the underlying molecular biology and the disease and make suggestions.

The second, and more common, is in designing the drug to correct the target.

This employs generative AI, also the basis of ChatGPT, to imagine molecules that might bind to the target and work, replacing the expensive manual process of chemists synthesising many hundreds of variations of the same molecule and trying them to find the optimal one.”

From BBC.

“Childhood cancer deaths in the United States have fallen dramatically over time, as shown in the chart. It presents annual cancer death rates in children under five years old.

There has been a six-fold decline since the 1950s.

This progress reflects decades of collaboration between scientists, clinicians, and public health workers.”

From Our World in Data.

“Increases in abstention, which is considered no use within the previous 30 days, were statistically significant among 12th and 10th graders.

• Alcohol: 42% of 12th graders reported consumption, down from 75% in 1997. Among 10th graders, it fell to 26% from 65%. And among eighth graders, it dropped to 13% from 46%.
• Marijuana: Levels were the lowest they’ve been in the past three decades, at 26% for 12th graders and 16% for 10th graders.
• Nicotine vaping: 12th grade use was 21% compared to 35% in 2020 and 19% in 2017.

State of play: Teen substance use dropped at the start of the COVID-19 pandemic. The pattern tracks with young adults’ shifting views of moderate drinking and their reduced reported consumption.”

From Axios.

“Researchers at the University of Melbourne in partnership with the Colossal Foundation will advance conservation efforts to engineer immunity in amphibians, including Australia’s critically endangered Corroboree Frog, against a deadly fungal disease.

The Colossal Foundation, a non-profit organisation established by American de-extinction company Colossal Biosciences, have gifted US$3 million to the University of Melbourne over three years to help stop the spread of chytridiomycosis, a disease responsible for the extinction of 90 amphibian species to date and significant declines in 500 more.

This gift will support the work of Professor Andrew Pask, Dr Stephen Frankenberg and their labs in the Faculty of Science.

Dr Frankenberg and Professor Pask will strive to genetically engineer an approach to augment amphibians’ natural immune systems and provide a first line of defence against the chytrid infection.”

From University of Melbourne.