AI-designed medicine enters clinical trials

A medicine designed by using artificial intelligence (AI) is about to enter clinical human trials for the first time. Developed by British start-up Exscientia and Japanese pharmaceutical firm Sumitomo Dainippon Pharma, the medicine will be used to treat patients with obsessive-compulsive disorder. Its creation spanned 12 months, significantly less than a usual medicine developing process which takes about five years. The process involved algorithms that shifted through potential compounds checking them against a huge database of parameters. The medicine will first enter clinical trials in Japan.