InnovationRx: Artificial Intelligence In Biopharma; Plus, Lingering Covid Symptoms

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The most common use of artificial intelligence in biopharmaceutical research and development over the past few years was drug discovery, according to a report out today from IQVIA. The report identified 19 clinical trials between 2018 and 2022 in which artificial intelligence and machine learning played a role in the research stage. While it’s still early days, it’s expected these technologies will help speed up drug development. More than half of the trials used AI to analyze complex datasets to optimize drug design. Other uses included identifying “druggable” targets, precision patient targeting and trial simulation. “The expectation is that trials using [artificial intelligence and machine learning] will deliver faster results at lower risk based on optimized drug characteristics and trial execution,” the report noted.

Staffing Marketplace Nomad Health Lays Off 17% Of Workforce

Nomad Health, a healthcare staffing startup, laid off 17% of its corporate workforce last week, as the surge in travel nurses and other temporary healthcare workers ignited by the pandemic cools down. “Nomad’s leaders, starting with me, were too optimistic about the trajectory of our market. This means, unfortunately, that we built our team for an economic reality that no longer exists,” cofounder and CEO Alexi Nazem wrote in an email to employees reviewed by Forbes.

Read more here.

Deals Of The Week

Biotech Funding: Two biotech entrepreneurs – Zach Weinberg and Alexis Borisy – launched Curie.Bio this week, which they say offers a “new model for venture capital in biotech” to help founders launch therapeutics companies with less dilution in the early stages. The duo have raised more than $500 million for their mission to “free the founders.”

Inclusive Telehealth: Twentyeight Health has raised $8.3 million to offer virtual care to medically underserved groups.

Immunotherapy: Microbial immunotherapy company Prokarium has raised $30 million in its bid to develop a new therapy for bladder cancer.

Noteworthy

A fast-acting male birth control drug showed promising results in mice, a discovery researchers described as a “game-changer” that could pave the way for a male contraceptive pill.

A medical delivery drone completed its first flight between two hospitals in north England, part of a three-month trial that could involve up to 15 flights a day.

Here’s what to know about Marburg, the deadly virus detected in Equatorial Guinea.

Coronavirus Updates

Around half of patients who were hospitalized for Covid-19 reported lingering symptoms, financial problems and fatigue six months after their hospital stays, according to a study published this week in JAMA Network Open. The number of people experiencing cardiopulmonary problems, such as coughing and chest pain, increased from 67% at one month after discharge to 75% at 6 months after discharge in the group of 825 patients studied. The number of patients reporting new or worsening fatigue was also greater at six months post-discharge. More than 56% of patients reported financial problems at 6 months, including using up all or most of their savings or being unable to pay for necessities.

“My clinic patients often want to know how soon they’ll get back to their usual health,” study author Andrew Admon, a pulmonologist and assistant professor at the University of Michigan said in a statement. “Based on these data, it seems that many people hospitalized for COVID-19 should expect symptoms to last for up to six months or even longer.”

Diabetes Risk Jumps After Covid Infection, Study Finds

A Covid-19 infection increases the risk of developing diabetes, according to a study published Tuesday in JAMA Network Open, confirming previous research and underscoring the long-term health risks the virus poses. The findings also suggest vaccination can help protect against the risk of diabetes after infection, the researchers said.

Read more here.

Other Coronavirus News

New York State dropped face mask requirements for healthcare and hospital facilities this week.

A study suggests inherited differences in antibody genes might help explain the differences in how people’s immune systems respond to Covid infections.

Across Forbes

Founder Of Goldman Sachs-Backed Tech Company Slync Is Charged With $67 Million Fraud

How A TikTok Ban Would Work — And How TikTok Could Fight Back

The World’s 10 Highest-Paid Entertainers

What Else We are Reading

Should Narcan spray be sold over the counter? (Endpoints News)

Armed With Hashtags, These Activists Made Insulin Prices a Presidential Talking Point (Kaiser Health News)

WHO abandons plans for crucial second phase of COVID-origins investigation (Nature)