AI in Biopharma Slowed by Challenges Involving Data, Corporate Culture

Biopharmas are warming up to artificial intelligence (AI), but a series of challenges will need to be addressed before it becomes widely used by drug developers, a panel of industry executives agreed. Speaking at the 2019 Annual Meeting of NewYorkBIO in New York City yesterday, panelists identified those challenges as finding more and better data, integrating data from multiple sources, and creating partnerships to gather and analyze that data. The panel also cited challenges that go beyond data, such as attracting a new generation of professionals capable of applying AI and related technologies such as machine learning--and adapting biopharmas to the new technologies. Those observations are in line with a study released today by The Pistoia Alliance, a global not-for-profit organization of more than 150 members established by executives from AstraZeneca, GlaxoSmithKline (GSK), Novartis, and Pfizer. The Alliance surveyed 190 life sciences professionals in the US and Europe, with 52% citing access to data, and 44% a lack of skills, as the two key barriers of adoption of AI and machine learning.