Fujitsu Announces "Drug Discovery Platform"

Fujitsu announced a groundbreaking drug discovery platform developed in collaboration with pharmaceutical research and development company Polaris. The drug discovery platform, designed to help pharmaceutical companies develop new drugs faster and more cost-effectively, uses quantum-inspired computing technology, machine learning, and a combination of hybrid quantum mechanics and molecular mechanics simulations (QM/MM). This innovative platform currently focuses on finding a treatment for dengue fever, with the goal of screening and ultimately discovering new (de novo) molecules needed to treat and develop drugs for diseases with significant global impact. While conventional computing methods examine millions of molecules, the platform jointly developed by Fujitsu and Polaris can examine billions of molecules in the same time period. The platform not only screens more molecules but also performs this process significantly faster than other drug discovery platforms on the market. Fujitsu's quantum-inspired Digital Annealer technology can deliver results 10,000 times faster than all other solutions. To describe this speed difference, the time spent identifying lead molecules and reaching the early stages of drug development could be reduced from two to four years to eight months.

After lead molecules are identified, Polaris's proprietary machine learning algorithm and drug activity (QM/MM) simulations can rapidly evaluate whether the selected molecules have all the characteristics required for a drug to be brought to market.

Epidemics like coronavirus highlight the growing need for faster processes to find treatments, and this platform was designed to support pharmaceutical companies in providing effective and rapid responses. Patrick Stephenson, Head of Innovation and Health Division at Fujitsu UK, said: "Fujitsu's quantum-inspired Digital Annealer technology is truly pioneering technology, and we are all excited about the impact our partnership with Polaris will have on improving the drug discovery process. We look forward to scaling this platform to tackle many more diseases in the future. We are very pleased that we can enable new drugs to be developed for patients faster and more cost-effectively." Dr. Shahar Keinan, CEO of Polaris, stated: "As Polaris, we are deeply excited to be partners in this new platform that could revolutionize drug design. We believe we have reached a turning point in early drug discovery and think that advances in quantum-inspired computing will significantly increase computational speed and the diversity of candidate molecules by addressing real market needs." The current pilot study investigates molecules needed to treat dengue fever, a common disease affecting 100 million patients with 22,000 deaths annually. Unfortunately, there is still no treatment available for dengue fever patients, which Fujitsu and Polaris selected for their joint drug discovery platform pilot study. Lead molecules for dengue fever treatment are expected to be ready to advance to the next phase by May 2020. In parallel with this work, Fujitsu and Polaris are exploring their next disease targets with new pharmaceutical firms.