How Artificial Intelligence is Matching Drugs to Patients

Considerable direction, following.  

How artificial intelligence is matching drugs to patients  in the BBC

Published,2 days ago, By Natalie Lisbona, Business reporter, Tel Aviv

Dr Talia Cohen Solal sits down at a microscope to look closely at human brain cells grown in a petri dish.   "The brain is very subtle, complex and beautiful," she says.

A neuroscientist, Dr Cohen Solal is the co-founder and chief executive of Israeli health-tech firm Genetika+.  Established in 2018, the company says its technology can best match antidepressants to patients, to avoid unwanted side effects, and make sure that the prescribed drug works as well as possible.

"We can characterise the right medication for each patient the first time," adds Dr Cohen Solal.

Genetika+ does this by combining the latest in stem cell technology - the growing of specific human cells - with artificial intelligence (AI) software.  From a patient's blood sample its technicians can generate brain cells. These are then exposed to several antidepressants, and recorded for cellular changes called "biomarkers".

This information, taken with a patient's medical history and genetic data, is then processed by an AI system to determine the best drug for a doctor to prescribe and the dosage.

Although the technology is currently still in the development stage, Tel Aviv-based Genetika+ intends to launch commercially next year.  .... '