Now, a team of Canadian researchers are hunting for new Ebola treatments, using "groundbreaking" artificial-intelligence technology that they claim can predict the effectiveness of new medicines 150 times faster than current methods.
Chematria, a startup supported by the University of Toronto, programmed Canada's fastest supercomputer with an algorithm that simulates and analyzes "millions of potential medicines" to predict their effectiveness against Ebola, according to researchers. They claim the process will only take a few weeks, and won't require costly physical testing in labs.
"What we are attempting would have been considered science fiction, until now," Dr. Abraham Heifets, Chematria cofounder and CEO, said in a statement. "We are going to explore the possible effectiveness of millions of drugs, something that used to take decades of physical research and tens of millions of dollars, in mere days with our technology."
Heifets compares Chematria's technology to the process of designing airplanes, saying manufacturers test many different wing prototypes before building one. "They might test 1,000 wings," he told Mashable in an interview. "But they'll test them in ... the computer before they ever bring one in the wind tunnel."
"We're doing that same kind of design, but for medicine," he added.
Chematria describes its technology as a virtual drug-discovery platform that helps pharmaceutical companies "determine which molecules can become medicines." Here's how it works, according to the company:
The system is driven by a virtual brain, modeled on the human visual cortex, that teaches itself by “studying” millions of datapoints about how drugs have worked in the past. With this vast knowledge, Chematria’s brain can apply the patterns it perceives, to predict the effectiveness of hypothetical drugs, and suggest surprising uses for existing drugs, transforming the way medicines are discovered.
In response to the outbreak, Chematria recently launched an Ebola project, using its algorithm to evaluate molecules that have already gone through clinical trials, and have proven to be safe. "That means we can expedite the process of getting the treatment to the people who need it," Heifets said. "In a pandemic situation, you're under serious time pressure."
He cited Aspirin as an example of proven medicine that has more than one purpose: People take it for headaches, but it's also helpful for heart disease. Similarly, a drug that's already out there may also hold the cure for Ebola.
Dr. Jeffrey Lee, a professor with the University of Toronto's laboratory medicine and pathobiology department, told Mashable that his team is in the early stages of identifying compounds against Ebola, but are getting "promising leads."
“[We are] focusing on the mechanism Ebola uses to latch on to the cells it infects,” said Lee, whose team is collaborating with Chematria. “If we can interrupt that process with a new drug, it could prevent the virus from replicating."
After Chematria's algorithm evaluates all the available proven drugs, it will provide Lee with a few "high-confidence predictions," which he will then validate in the lab. At that point, the team hopes to have something it can test in humans.
The company's technology has previously been used for research on malaria, multiple sclerosis and leukemia, among other diseases.
The current Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the largest since the disease was discovered in 1976, according to the World Health Organization. There are no licensed vaccines available yet, although two potential vaccines are undergoing human safety trials, the WHO said. The National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases and GlaxoSmithKline developed the first vaccine, while the Public Health Agency of Canada developed the second.
Dr. Margaret Chan, director-general of the WHO, criticized the drug industry on Monday for failing to develop an Ebola vaccine because it is "profit-driven."