Barry Bunin, PhD
Founder & CEO
Collaborative Drug Discovery
“Scientists Trained AI to Predict Gene Activity, a Potentially Powerful Tool.” That’s the headline for a Washington Post article on how a team led by researchers at Columbia University (my alma mater where I first started doing research) have trained an AI model to predict how the genes inside a cell drive behavior, which could broaden our understanding of cancer and genetic diseases, and pave the way for cell-specific gene therapies. The researchers trained an algorithm dubbed General Expression Transformer, or GET, using an approach similar to that used by ChatGPT. While ChatGPT learned the grammar of language, GET has learned underlying rules governing gene expression. “Biology is being transformed into something that is a (more) predictive science,” opined Raul Rabadan, Director of the Program for Mathematical Genomics at Columbia, and an author of the paper in Nature.
* * *
“Ozempic Could Crush the Junk Food Industry. But It Is Fighting Back.” That’s the headline from a New York Times article, about how the new weight-loss drugs turn consumers off ultraprocessed foods, and how the fast food industry is on the hunt for new products. The article reports on how many GLP-1 users are ditching sugar-laden junk food because their taste buds have changed and they now prefer the taste of fresh fruit and vegetables. The article noted that food scientists have long worked to make food addictive by rewarding pleasure centers in the brain and described how food scientists might create new foods to appeal to GLP-1 users. The article reads: “GLP-1 drugs change far more than our metabolic processes. There are GLP-1 receptors in the hypothalamus, the area that regulates hunger and signals fullness, and in the brain’s dopamine reward system, the primitive, so-called reptilian desire circuitry involved with addictive behaviors. It seems that GLP-1s, by regulating the release of dopamine, may make the flavor profiles of ultraprocessed products, many of which have been optimized to stimulate the brain’s reward system, less appealing.”
* * *
“NVIDIA Partners With Industry Leaders to Advance Genomics, Drug Discovery and Healthcare.” That’s the headline from a recent press release from the AI giant NVIDIA at the J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference. The NVIDIA announcements showcase how the convergence of AI, accelerated computing and biological data is turning healthcare into the largest technology industry. The company points to solutions including AI agents that can speed clinical trials by reducing administrative burden, AI models that learn from biology instruments to advance drug discovery and digital pathology, and physical AI robots for surgery, patient monitoring and operations. The company predicts that AI agents, AI instruments and AI robots will help address the $3 trillion of operations dedicated to supporting industry growth and create an AI factory opportunity in the hundreds of billions of dollars. “AI offers an exceptional opportunity to advance healthcare and life sciences with tools that help providers detect diseases earlier and discover new treatments faster,” said Kimberly Powell, Vice President of Healthcare at NVIDIA. “The combination of NVIDIA’s AI and accelerated computing capabilities with the expertise of industry leaders is poised to usher in a new era of medical and biological innovation and improve patient outcomes worldwide.”
* * *
“First New Non-Opioid Painkiller in Decades Gets FDA Approval.” That’s the headline for a Wall Street Journal article on Vertex Pharmaceuticals winning U.S. approval for its new non-opioid painkiller suzetrigine. Marketed as JOURNAVX, the drug works by selectively blocking sodium channels in pain-sensing neurons, preventing the transmission of pain signals to the brain. The newspaper predicts the drug “Could be a blockbuster if the company can persuade insurers and doctors to embrace the non-addictive alternative to notorious drugs like OxyContin.” The FDA approved suzetrigine to treat moderate to severe acute pain of the type that people suffer after surgery or injury and lasting fewer than three months. The drug should help patients sleep better—and their surgeons. “Surgeons don't like to be woken up in the middle of the night because their patients' pain medicine wore off,” Brian Abrahams, an RBC Capital Markets analyst, told the paper. Suzetrigine is expected to have sales of $100 million this year, and grow to more than $1 billion annually in 2028, according to FactSet.
* * *
Barry A. Bunin, PhD, is the Founder & CEO of Collaborative Drug Discovery, which provides a modern approach to drug discovery research informatics trusted globally by thousands of leading researchers. The CDD Vault is a hosted biological and chemical database that securely manages your private and external data.