Facebook claims that its new artificial intelligence can predict the way drugs interact with each other inside cells quicker than existing methods, enabling speedier discovery of new drug combinations to treat illnesses like cancer, but some researchers say it may not translate into results that will be useful in humans. The system, developed by Facebook AI Research and the Helmholtz Centre in Munich, Germany, is claimed to be the first easy-to-use AI model able to estimate how different drugs will work in the body. It could speed up our ability to uncover new treatments for diseases like cancer. "Drug research often takes half a decade to develop a compound," says Fabian Theis at the Helmholtz Centre, one of the authors of the work. The model works by measuring how individual cells change in response to treatment from a particular set of drugs and recording those responses.

A drug that's been used for more than a decade to treat cancer could cure people with Covid-19, according to a new study. The drug, called pralatrexate, is a chemotherapy medication that was originally developed to treat lymphomas – tumours that originate in the glands. Chinese researchers found pralatrexate outperforms remdesivir, which is currently the leading anti-viral medication used to treat Covid-19 patients. Pralatrexate was approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2009 for patients with terminal disease in spite of its toxicity. Adverse effects of pralatrexate include fatigue, nausea and mucositis – inflammation and ulceration of the mucous membranes lining the digestive tract.

The government has announced it will invest £133m in new technology for the NHS, including tools for arthritis and cancer diagnosis, as well as gene-based therapies for diseases including dementia. The fund will be spread across several different areas of treatment, including £50m ring-fenced for NHS diagnostics services and for supporting Centres of Excellence in digital pathology and imaging with artificial intelligence. Adult social care will receive £7.5m over eight years, which will fund research to improve care delivery. A project dedicated to developing new therapies for genetic mutations, including those linked to Parkinson's and cancer, will receive £30m over four years. A further £14m will also be spent on bioscience projects across the UK.

We're starting to get a better picture of how artificial intelligence could help doctors better treat cancer. And in data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, IBM Watson Health gave a snapshot of how it's playing out so far. The studies looked at concordance rates, or how often Watson for Oncology reached the same course of treatment as the cancer doctors at different cancer centers around the world. At Manipal Comprehensive Cancer Center in India, for 112 cases of lung cancer, there was 96.4% concordance between Watson and the doctors. For 126 cases of colon cancer it was 81% of the time, and for 124 cases of rectal cancer cases were 92.7%.

We're starting to get a better picture of how artificial intelligence could help doctors better treat cancer. And in data presented at the American Society of Clinical Oncology meeting, IBM Watson Health gave a snapshot of how it's playing out so far. The studies looked at concordance rates, or how often Watson for Oncology reached the same course of treatment as the cancer doctors at different cancer centers around the world. At Manipal Comprehensive Cancer Center in India, for 112 cases of lung cancer, there was 96.4% concordance between Watson and the doctors. For 126 cases of colon cancer it was 81% of the time, and for 124 cases of rectal cancer cases were 92.7%.

In 2012, the University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center launched an ambitious project with International Business Machines Corp.'s Watson program that promised to transform cancer care with the help of artificial intelligence. Almost five years and more than $62 million later, the sprawling Houston-based public institution has little to show for it, according to a special review conducted by the University of Texas System Audit...

Japanese scientists will use artificial intelligence to diagnose cancerous diseases and choose necessary treatment of cancer. Institute of Japanese Foundation for Cancer Research in cooperation with FRONTEO Healthcare Company develop a system of precise treatment of cancer. The technology is said to be based on the structure of artificial intelligence. The technology is expected to work on the basis of genetic analysis of each patient. Artificial intelligence will be used to analyze symptoms, peculiarities and characteristics to select appropriate scientific works.

Today, Microsoft announced an audacious new goal: its researchers will attempt to "solve" cancer by treating the disease group as information processing systems that can be modeled and reasoned, and then use sophisticated analysis tools to better understand and treat cancer. "At Microsoft's research labs around the world, computer scientists, programmers, engineers and other experts are trying to use computer science to solve one of the most complex and deadly challenges humans face: Cancer." Microsoft's Allison Linn writes in a new post to Microsoft Stories. "And, for the most part, they are doing so with algorithms and computers instead of test tubes and beakers." Yes, Microsoft's research labs are hard at work on tough computer science problems too.