Harnessing AI to Discover New Drugs: Rewriting the Rulebook for Pharmaceutical Research

Artificial intelligence (AI) is able to recognize the biological activity of natural products in a targeted manner, as researchers at ETH Zurich have demonstrated. Moreover, AI helps to find molecules that have the same effect as a natural substance but are easier to manufacture. This opens up huge possibilities for drug discovery, which also has potential to rewrite the rulebook for pharmaceutical research. Nature has a vast store of medicinal substances. "Over 50 percent of all drugs today are inspired by nature," says Gisbert Schneider, Professor of Computer- Assisted Drug Design at ETH Zurich.