Amid fierce debate about prescription-drug prices and countless proposals to rein them in, there has been a point of widespread agreement: Those prices at least partly reflect the vast amount of time, money and risk involved in developing new medicines.
Currently, about nine out of 10 drug candidates that make it into clinical studies fail. And for those drugs that do reach the U.S. market, the journey typically takes 10 to 15 years and costs about $2.5 billion, by some estimates. Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer, a New York Democrat, plans to host a wide-ranging AI forum on Wednesday. While legislating on the topic won’t be easy, Schumer said this week, “We cannot behave like ostriches sticking our heads in the sand when it comes to AI.”
There are plenty of potential obstacles ahead. “Trust in AI is a major barrier,” according to a recent report on AI in drug discovery by the Boston Consulting Group and Wellcome Trust, a health research foundation.
Some Recursion partners in the pharmaceutical industry have signed on for the long haul. In late 2021, the company announced a collaboration with Roche Holding AG RHHBY, +0.17% and its Genentech unit to rapidly identify new targets and advance treatments in neuroscience and oncology. Under the agreement, Roche and Genentech may initiate up to 40 programs, the companies said.