Shots for kids near approval, more vaccine mandates go into effect, and the US's pandemic strategy evolves. Here's what you should know: Want to receive this weekly roundup and other coronavirus news? Yesterday Pfizer-BioNTech asked the FDA to issue an emergency use authorization for its vaccine in kids ages 5 to 11. The drugmakers are submitting relevant data, including information on how it will formulate the two pediatric doses, which are each one-third of those given to adults. The agency is tentatively scheduled to discuss this in an October 26 meeting, and a CDC advisory panel meeting has been scheduled for November 2 and 3, which means shots for children in this age group could be available shortly after that.

A lack of proper data is hurting the use of machine learning to develop drugs, which could put U.S. drugmakers at a competitive disadvantage compared to other countries, according to a report from the U.S. Government Accountability Office and the National Academy of Medicine. Machine learning is a type of artificial intelligence that involves using data to train computers to make decisions and learn from experiences, according to Pharmaphorum. It has the potential to cut costs of research and development for drugmakers by helping researchers to predict what will and won't work in clinical trials. However, the report says a lot of the data being used in drug development is not suitable for machine learning purposes. There is a phenomenon known as "garbage in, garbage out," where a machine learning system can't produce credible results because of poor data, according to Pharmaphorum.

GlaxoSmithKline is ramping up its use of artificial intelligence and recruiting 80 AI specialists by the end of 2020 as it turns to cutting-edge computing to develop medicines of the future. However, the UK's largest drugmaker by revenue is struggling to hire enough AI researchers and engineers from areas such as Silicon Valley and is looking to former employees in academia, the US Navy and the music industry to fill positions in the new team. They will be spread across London, Heidelberg, San Francisco, Philadelphia and Boston. The AI unit will be headquartered in San Francisco, with one GSK executive admitting competition for AI professionals is fierce. "In AI, we are scouring the planet for the best people. These folks are very rare to find. Competition is high and there aren't a large number of them," said Tony Wood, GSK's senior vice-president of medicinal science and technology.

To sharpen its predictions, the company's health-care division plans to start testing a cloud-based software platform later this year. The platform, made by North Reading, Mass.-based TraceLink Inc., can analyze in real time data points from various organizations within Merck's supply chain, including pharmacies, hospitals and wholesale distributors. TraceLink is now developing machine-learning algorithms that will be used in the pilot, which will begin with immuno-oncology drugs, designed to boost the body's immune system to fight cancer. "We want to start it in an area where the product is a lifesaving product," said Alessandro DeLuca, chief information officer for Merck's health-care division. "The value is going to be that every single patient will receive the drug that he or she needs at the right moment," Mr. DeLuca said, adding that the move could significantly cut drug shortages.

A poster is seen at the Next forum, which was held by New York-listed Medidata earlier this month in New York. Artificial intelligence is playing a key role in new drug development and smart medical treatment by capturing, analyzing and activating data. It's a category of AI often underestimated by the public, even though it influences the health of millions of people. China, as well as the Asia-Pacific region, is regarded as fertile ground for technology firms working with drug developers, providing artificial intelligence and cloud services. For example, US-based Medidata, the biggest software firm in the life sciences industry, has 357 clients in the Asia Pacific, or about one-third of total client numbers.

HONG KONG – Takeda Pharmaceutical Co.'s ambitions to expand in the lucrative U.S. health care market led the drugmaker to begin a painstaking examination of Shire PLC's assets more than two years prior to striking a $62 billion deal. In particular, Shire's neuroscience unit and its gastrointestinal products sparked Takeda's interest. One hurdle, though, gave them pause: the steep purchase price. Then the tide turned in Takeda's favor. Shire's struggling stock performance after its failed sale to AbbVie Inc. and the acquisition spree that followed -- culminating with the $32 billion takeover of Baxalta Inc. -- frustrated investors and prompted concerns about its strategy.

Food and Drug Administration Commissioner Scott Gottlieb took aim at various players in the drug supply chain in a Feb. 28 speech, painting a picture of how the system should look. "We want to create a system that flags illegitimate drugs in the supply chain," Gottlieb said. "A fully digitized supply chain can also help develop predictive analytics to reduce health care fraud, waste, and abuse. It can allow regulated industry and regulators to more easily manage or avoid costly or dangerous supply disruptions." As a potential solution to challenges across the system, Gottlieb called for standardized documentation practices for the supply chain as a potential solution -- and that's where technology comes in.

A decade ago, Pablo Graiver was working as a VP at Kayak, the online airfare aggregator, when he sat down to dinner with an old friend--a heart surgeon from his home country of Argentina. The talk turned to how tech was doing more to save folks a few bucks on a flight to Rome than to save people's lives. Right now, the US has exactly 19,816 clinical trials open and ready to recruit patients--trials of promising new therapeutics to fight everything from HIV to cancer to Alzheimer's. About 18,000 of them will get stuck on the tarmac because they won't get enough people enrolled. And a third of those will never get off the ground at all, for the same reason.

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. Other pharmaceutical giants including Merck & Co, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi are also exploring the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to help streamline the drug discovery process. The aim is to harness modern supercomputers and machine learning systems to predict how molecules will behave and how likely they are to make a useful drug, thereby saving time and money on unnecessary tests. AI systems already play a central role in other high-tech areas such as the development of driverless cars and facial recognition software. "Many large pharma companies are starting to realize the potential of this approach and how it can help improve efficiencies," said Andrew Hopkins, chief executive of privately owned Exscientia, which announced the new tie-up with GSK. 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.

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 USD 43 million deal in the field on Sunday. Other pharmaceutical giants including Merck & Co, Johnson & Johnson and Sanofi are also exploring the potential of artificial intelligence (AI) to help streamline the drug discovery process. The aim is to harness modern supercomputers and machine learning systems to predict how molecules will behave and how likely they are to make a useful drug, thereby saving time and money on unnecessary tests. AI systems already play a central role in other high-tech areas such as the development of driverless cars and facial recognition software. "Many large pharma companies are starting to realise the potential of this approach and how it can help improve efficiencies," said Andrew Hopkins, chief executive of privately owned Exscientia, which announced the new tie-up with GSK. 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.