How Does Big Data Help Discover New Treatments?
In this article
What Is Big Data?
Your social media posts, photo-video archives, shopping behavior, Google searches, steps, heart rhythm (for example with smartwatches), illnesses, blood values, DNA… Everything concerning human life is now recorded, and this raw information is called Big Data .
Big Data and next-generation data mining tools can extract meaningful results from endless varieties of data never previously recorded or analyzed. Health data form some of the most valuable raw information.
Big Data also brings to mind artificial intelligence, machine learning, deep learning, and structured and unstructured data. These are now building blocks of a productive era for healthcare and pharmaceuticals.
The greatest asset today, not only in healthcare but throughout business, is Big Data and the ability to analyze it meaningfully.
1. Using Big Data to Pursue Previously Unidentified Disease Targets
One promising application is identifying previously unknown targets. GSK (GlaxoSmithKline) and Pfizer focus on this with AI providers. Some biotechnology companies build their own platforms. Berg Health, for example, uses proprietary machine-learning algorithms in molecular research and diseased cell cultures. These efforts identified targets and potential drugs for glaucoma, baldness (alopecia), cancer and neurodegenerative disorders.
2. Finding the Weak Point of HIV, the Cause of AIDS, with Big Data
A Hong Kong team is developing a vaccine targeting the right part of HIV to prevent copying and proliferation. This requires mapping its polyprotein sequence, where Big Data helps. From 1918 HIV-infected individuals and 20.043 sequences, they obtained 815 amino acids for AI analysis. It is hoped this will limit the virus's ability to mutate and cause infection, leading to new immunotherapies and vaccination approaches.
3. Tracking Drugs and Interactions with Big Data
Machine learning uses faster, higher-resolution methods to observe drug interactions and avoid overlooking details. This may particularly help rare diseases with few or no known targets. Sanofi works in this field to visualize molecules in clinical studies for new indications.
4. Searching and Monitoring the Literature with Big Data
AI can extract useful information from pharmaceutical R&D more efficiently. BenevolentAI's Judgment Correlation System (JACS) uses algorithms to interpret billions of sentences and paragraphs across millions of papers and reviews. It then identifies direct relationships with data and "known facts," based on scientists' hypotheses. An expert team evaluates and prioritizes findings. The company's biomedical arm uses this technology in ALS, obtaining results much more effective than previous efforts.
5. Patient-Centered Research with Big Data
Big Data revolutionizes not only analysis but also collection. LymeDisease.org recently announced MyLymeData, aiming to accelerate Lyme disease research. Lyme disease is currently among the most common mother-to-child-transmitted diseases in the United States, with diagnostic and treatment errors reaching 35-50%. The process severely challenges many patients. Using thousands of patients' data, the application promises insight into why some respond to treatment and others do not.
6. Large-Scale Cancer Drug Data with Big Data
The CODE-cancer.com (Collaboration for Oncology Data in Europe) initiative hopes data from 7 European countries, 200 cancer centers and 3 years will pave the way for treatments. It aims to expand over the next 10 years to 2000 centers. Data on this scale will allow comparison of which drugs work best in which cancers.
7. Collecting Health Data with Big Data and Artificial Intelligence
Mining structured and unstructured data and making them usable is another challenge. Cancer Research UK offers a 30-million-dollar prize for researchers in this area. This will open paths for drug discovery and cancer research. One goal is early cancer detection through patterns from medical and nonmedical sources. Success would raise another ethical issue: if medical data are easily accessible and used to create solutions, could they also be misused to cause problems?
RELATED TOPICS
Sources
Inphographic prepared by Technology Netwoks
Was this article helpful?
Your feedback helps us improve our content.
Reader comments
Share your comment
Your name and comment are published only after administrator approval. Your email address is never shown to visitors.
Be the first to comment.