News How AI Could Prevent the Development of New Illicit Drugs

[thegreenhand]

How AI Could Prevent the Development of New Illicit Drugs​

Doug Johnson
Undark.org
29 Dec 2021

In recent years, underground chemists have increasingly made small chemical tweaks on known recreational drugs to skirt laws, creating novel designer versions. Instead of cannabis, for instance, these chemists could offer up XLR-11, or instead of PCP they might have 3-MeO-PCE.

Novel designer drugs, also called research chemicals or legal highs, still produce physiological and psychological effects, though experts say that they can come with a slew of risks. Synthetic opioids such as fentanyl, for instance, are increasingly citedamong the number of opioid-related deaths in the United States, which reached more than 75,000 this year. According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, synthetic cannabinoids can cause heart attacks, kidney failure, and, in some cases, death. The newer synthetic drugs are often poorly studied, too, and among the myriad substances available, many come with negative health impacts beyond those of their naturally occurring counterparts.

While illicit drug chemists work on new formulas, governments around the world try to regulate and ban the drugs quickly after they appear. Many countries use similarities in the chemical structure of drugs — like between fentanyl and its analogs — to ban novel psychoactive substances, or NPS. However, the approach varies by jurisdiction. For instance, in 2017, the Australian state of Victoria banned all psychoactive compoundswith a few exceptions, including alcohol, tobacco, and medicinal cannabis. Other governments scramble to track the output of a global network of illicit labs.

Read the full story here.

 

[thegreenhand]

This is some fuckin cool technology… but if humanity truly believes the best use of it is to blanket ban substances that deeply saddens me

 

[Electrum1]

This is some fuckin cool technology… but if humanity truly believes the best use of it is to blanket ban substances that deeply saddens me

A new company called Abcellera uses AI to discover antibodies and then license them to bio companies to develop into drugs, and if it passes phase 2 for example, then Abcellera collects royalties. If it gets FDA approved they collect royalties on future drug sales.

It's a cool technology that could be used for a lot more than antibodies. You can give them parameters for however you want the antibody to work, for whatever receptors/cells etc and so on, and they use AI to eliminate all other possibilities until only one is left. Peter Thiel, Bill Gates and DARPA are invested in the company.

Technology - AbCellera

Maximize the Search Space. Generate a wide range of diverse antibodies with proprietary immunization strategies and single-cell screening. REVEAL Developable Leads. Express and test hundreds of antibodies with robust characterization and developability assessment. Ruthlessly downselect to...

www.abcellera.com

 

[thegreenhand]

A new company called Abcellera uses AI to discover antibodies and then license them to bio companies to develop into drugs, and if it passes phase 2 for example, then Abcellera collects royalties. If it gets FDA approved they collect royalties on future drug sales.

It's a cool technology that could be used for a lot more than antibodies. You can give them parameters for however you want the antibody to work, for whatever receptors/cells etc and so on, and they use AI to eliminate all other possibilities until only one is left. Peter Thiel, Bill Gates and DARPA are invested in the company.

Technology - AbCellera

Maximize the Search Space. Generate a wide range of diverse antibodies with proprietary immunization strategies and single-cell screening. REVEAL Developable Leads. Express and test hundreds of antibodies with robust characterization and developability assessment. Ruthlessly downselect to...

www.abcellera.com

I didn’t realize the market had already moved this fast on it. I feel like I’ve been hearing about applications of AI in drug discovery for years now but I’ve yet to see a notable example of a drug found with it. I assumed it was one of those “well maybe one day” things not that it was already here lol.

W.r.t. the psychoactives world I think David Nichols has done some work with AI and protein folding for LSD but that’s all I’m aware of.

 

[Electrum1]

I didn’t realize the market had already moved this fast on it. I feel like I’ve been hearing about applications of AI in drug discovery for years now but I’ve yet to see a notable example of a drug found with it. I assumed it was one of those “well maybe one day” things not that it was already here lol.

W.r.t. the psychoactives world I think David Nichols has done some work with AI and protein folding for LSD but that’s all I’m aware of.

They discovered Bamlanivimab for Covid in a partnership with Eli Lilly. They have like 140 discovery contracts right now, so something else is bound to work out.

I think of them as the next step in evolution of a company like Ligand Pharmaceuticals, but instead of hands on laboratory only discovery like Ligand, Abcellera can complete the process much quicker and more accurately. I hope they expand outside of just antibodies. Obviously I'm interested in this stuff, lol, so if I come across more cool AI biotech stuff I'll send you a link.

 

[thegreenhand]

They discovered Bamlanivimab for Covid in a partnership with Eli Lilly. They have like 140 discovery contracts right now, so something else is bound to work out.

I think of them as the next step in evolution of a company like Ligand Pharmaceuticals, but instead of hands on laboratory only discovery like Ligand, Abcellera can complete the process much quicker and more accurately. I hope they expand outside of just antibodies. Obviously I'm interested in this stuff, lol, so if I come across more cool AI biotech stuff I'll send you a link.

Oh wow that’s some big business lol

Definitely shoot me some links, I’m curious now