Big pharma turns to artificial intelligence to speed drug discovery, GSK signs deal

LONDON (Reuters) - The world's leading drug companies are turning to artificial intelligence to improve the hit-and-miss business of finding new medicines, with GlaxoSmithKline unveiling a new $43 million deal in the field on Sunday. Hopkins, who used to work at Pfizer, said Exscientia's AI system could deliver drug candidates in roughly one-quarter of the time and at one-quarter of the cost of traditional approaches. "It's still to be proven, but we definitely think we should do the experiment," said John Baldoni, GSK's head of platform technology and science. "We have an obligation to reduce the cost of drugs and reduce the time it takes to get medicines to patients."