From Years to Months: How AI is Shaping the Landscape of Clinical Trials

Pharmaceutical companies are harnessing artificial intelligence (AI) to speed up the traditionally arduous process of clinical trials, potentially saving both time and significant sums of money. These human studies, crucial to drug development, can take years and accrue costs in the billions.

AI's involvement in drug discovery has been experimental for years, with the hope that machines might be the key to discovering the next big pharmaceutical breakthrough. While a few AI-selected compounds are in development, their outcomes remain to be seen.

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Reuters interviews with several pharmaceutical company executives, drug regulators, public health experts, and AI firms show, however, that the technology is playing a sizeable and growing role in human drug trials.

Companies like Amgen Inc AMGN, Bayer AG BAYRY BAYZF, and Novartis AG NVS utilize AI to analyze vast amounts of data, including public health records, prescription data, and medical insurance claims. 

Amgen's AI tool, ATOMIC, scans large datasets, ranking clinics and doctors based on past patient recruitment performances. This tool has proven to expedite the trial enrollment process, with Amgen aiming to utilize ATOMIC for most of its studies by 2024. By 2030, they project that AI will reduce drug development time by two years.

Though AI holds promise, concerns, especially surrounding external control arms in trials, linger. 

Richard Pazdur, from the FDA's Oncology Center of Excellence, raised concerns about potential inaccuracies when comparing non-randomized data sets. 

Despite AI's potential to reshape clinical trials, regulators remain clear: the stringent standards for proving a drug's safety and effectiveness won't be compromised. 

Disclaimer: This content was partially produced with the help of AI tools and was reviewed and published by Benzinga editors.