Can AI Machine Learning and Genomics Find Alzheimer's Drugs?

What if a new treatment for Alzheimer's disease exists today among existing U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved drugs? A new peer-reviewed study published last week in Nature Communications by researchers at Harvard Medical School and Massachusetts General Hospital shows how an AI machine learning framework combined with genomics can help predict drug repurposing candidates for Alzheimer's disease. There are an estimated 50 million people living with Alzheimer's disease, a neurodegenerative disorder, and other forms of dementia globally according to the World Alzheimer Report 2018. In the United States, 5.8 million people are affected by Alzheimer's disease--two-thirds of whom are women. There are over 16 million people in the U.S. caring for those with Alzheimer's according to an article published today in Time by Maria Shriver, founder of the Women's Alzheimer's Movement, and George Vradenburg, co-founder of UsAgainstAlzheimer's.