AI is the engine driving life in modern life. AI technology affects virtually all aspects of human life. For example, if you consider sports, the use of video assistant referees (VAR) has enhanced the role of traditional referees, giving more accurate analysis to ensure better decisions in matches. Likewise, the medical sector embraces tech, especially in the drug industry.
Traditionally, the role of pharmacists has been to devise drugs, standardize dosage and prescriptions, and distribute them for medical use. This is an excellent contribution to the health sector. Growing medical needs, however, make the traditional mode of operation limited and unsatisfactory to the growing demand and medical emergencies. Another impediment to the conventional approach is the distance and geographical limitations. This has made the influx of AI in the drug industry a perfect match and more than a quick fix.
Pharmaceutical companies apply information technology not in production but even in running their day-to-day programs and even handling consultations. AI has especially proved helpful in research and production. This enables faster and easier delivery of services and completion of tasks. It is more than just the process; the work is being revolutionized.
AI technology plays a vital role in evolving the drug industry in the following ways:
Accuracy with the “Unit Dose” System
One of the most significant challenges in the medical world is dosage employment. This is work done by doctors and medication nurses, which is pretty involved because it is labor-intensive and error-prone. In mathematics, 23 is synonymous with 32, but in the administration of drug doses, these are two different things. According to a study carried out by Baker in 1969, titled “the effects of an experimental medication system on medication errors and costs,” error rates of up to 10% occurred when comparing what was prescribed to what was administered to the patient. Understanding the gravity of wrong medical prescriptions can help you know that even a 1% mistake prescription is too costly.
Technological advancements invented a new method called the ‘unit dose.’ The unit dose system included more double checks and safeguards, which reduced medication errors by as much as 50%. In addition, it transferred the role of dispensing medication from the medication nurse to the pharmacist, who was responsible for ensuring the double checks. The result is limited errors and better results.
3D Printing Innovation
When you hear the term three-dimensional, most people do not immediately think about the health sector. Instead, you will think about images, photography, and their close relations. However, AI has brought 3D printing into the medical world, too. In medicine, 3D printing is used to develop new surgical cutting, drill guides, and prosthetics and create patient-specific replicas of bones, organs, and blood vessels.
What about pharmaceuticals?
A team of researchers at Texas A&M University has developed an innovative way to print therapeutics in 3D for regenerative medicine. 3D printing AI technology has many exciting outcomes, including unique tailoring to meet patients’ needs. Personalized medicine can help match patients to therapies far more efficiently than the traditional “trial and error” approach. In 2015, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)— the US government department responsible for protecting public health by ensuring the efficacy, safety, and security of human and veterinary drugs and biological products—— approved the first 3D-printed medicine.
3D printing is still a work in progress in many areas and can be termed futuristic to a great degree. Nevertheless, it is an excellent addition to the drug industry in ways that look too good to be true. Can you imagine a situation where a doctor accesses your health condition, and a pharmacist produces a unique therapy designed specifically for the condition considering all the underlying health conditions? This is where 3D printing is taking the drug industry.
Changes in the Organic Healthcare Industry
Organic products rely on natural substances and physical, mechanical, or biologically based farming methods to the fullest extent possible. In the drug industry, this has been quite evident in the administration of herbal medicine. Herbal treatment has been used for several centuries and virtually as long as human existence. Medicinal plants like cannabis, neem tree, et cetera have been consumed in their state without many alterations.
However, technological advancements have come with more remarkable changes to the fashion of traditional organic healthcare products to better and more relevant modern tastes. Cannabinoids have been great reapers of AI technology. Modern research has shown how CBD products like CBD gummies and CBD oil can potentially treat various diseases. AI technology is taking treatment a step further with the potential to 3D print personalized cannabis-based medicines in local pharmacies.
Artificial Intelligence and Machine Learning
Artificial intelligence is one of the branches of computer science that comprises machines able to perform tasks and demonstrate behaviors commonly associated with human beings. To the drug industry, this means an increased ability to analyze drugs’ efficacy so long as there is access to patients’ data. The process of drug manufacture is made more accessible and more accurate by the use of Machine learning. AI technology can also help drug production by giving relevant outcomes to determine which compounds can achieve better results with specific health conditions.
Conclusion
AI is the way to go for most sectors in today’s world. But, surprisingly, the drug industry, the least expected to appreciate tech, is being revolutionized with AI technology more than ever before. The above four ways are some of the significant ways AI technology is proving to be a significant player in evolving the drug industry.
