AI Heats Up: From Promise to Patient Impact
by Charlotte Dawson, Associate DIrector at 5654 & Company
Attending TechBio UK - hosted by the BioIndustry Association (BIA) - this week, it was clear just how far AI in health and life sciences has come. The sector has been harnessing the power of AI for over a decade and is ahead of other industries in its applications, but in terms of meaningful impact on drug discovery and development, this time last year, AI was full of promise yet still faced significant limitations. Conversations focused more on the art of the possible than the art of the real.
Fast forward 12 months, and the discussion has dramatically shifted. The promise is beginning to turn into delivery and coming to a rolling boil. AI is no longer just accelerating the early stages of drug discovery, it’s transforming how we predict, personalise and design treatments in real time.
One striking example comes from a company working on immunotherapy. Last year, their predictivity to patient response to the treatment sat at 10%. Today, their AI-driven platform can predict patient response with over 80% accuracy, tested across 4,000 patients. By analysing patients’ genes and how their bodies express key proteins, they can generate answers in hours instead of month, a shift that could transform patient outcomes and health system economics. The pace of progress in just one year is remarkable.
Another key theme around AI is the role of data and how it can help predict how treatments will work for people in the real world. By collecting and standardising high-quality data on genes and patient responses, AI can learn to make more accurate predictions about who will benefit from which therapies. In the UK, efforts supported by facilities such as the Diamond Light Source, the country’s national synchrotron science facility that uses powerful X-rays to reveal the structure of proteins and other biological molecules, are making these models more reliable and practical. This means faster, more personalised treatments for patients and a real chance to improve outcomes, reduce the cost of medicines and save lives.
Looking forward, the UK is in a strong position to take AI even further. By harnessing world-class science and the growing momentum as witnessed at TechBio UK, we can turn AI’s early promises into the desired healthcare breakthroughs and establishing the UK as a global leader in life sciences innovation.