AI may have found a cure for pancreatitis

ARTIFICIAL intelligence has helped with a drug breakthrough that could lead to a cure for chronic pancreatitis.

The condition is an inflammation of the pancreas, an organ in the belly that produces a number of hormones plus enzymes to help break down foods.

The debilitating condition eventually prevents patients from being able to digest their food and at the moment it cannot be treated.

The condition affects millions across the globe and is managed through pain relief.

Symptoms include pain in the upper belly, nausea and vomiting. Pain often goes into the back and is usually severe.

Tech firm Elsevier supplied an AI platform, Entellect, to host a joint datathon with non-profit organisation The Pistoia Alliance and this led to four drugs being identified as possible cures.

One of the datathon participants, Mission: Cure, is considering the options raised by the collaboration and is planning to take them to clinical trials – giving hope to millions.

Dr Jabe Wilson from Elsevier said: “The goal of the datathon was to identify drug candidates for repurposing by using predictive analytics techniques, and we also wanted to explore best practice in the use of data science.

“This was the first public trial for our Entellect platform and it’s been a great success on all fronts.”

Megan Golden of Mission: Cure said: “We look forward to taking the promising candidates to the next step where we hope they will help us find effective treatments for this difficult, rare disease.”