Microsoft To Work With Novartis On Applying Artificial Intelligence To Business, Health Care Issues
Part of the work will focus on using deep learning — the technique that has brought the biggest recent advances in AI — to improve development of new medicines, the Los Angeles Times reports. Also in industry news: new technology for pictures of the heart, Biogen announces a new R&D chief, Bayer appoints a prominent agricultural expert to its board, and a primer on the problems that led drug stores to pull Zantac from the shelves.
Los Angeles Times:
Novartis And Microsoft Join Forces To Develop Drugs Using AI
Novartis and Microsoft announced they are joining forces to apply artificial intelligence to some of the most intractable problems in healthcare, in one of the most expansive tie-ups so far between big pharma and big tech. Under one part of the five-year agreement, which will be reviewed annually, Microsoft will work on new tools intended to make it easier to apply AI to all areas of the Swiss pharmaceutical company’s business, from finance to manufacturing. (Neville and Waters, 10/1)
Stat:
An AI Startup Tries To Take Better Pictures Of The Heart
If the technology holds up, Caption, until recently called Bay Labs, could succeed in solving the problem of making heart sonograms easier to obtain. It’s already impressed some in the life sciences. Among them is health care executive Andy Page, who spent four years as Anne Wojcicki’s right-hand man at 23andMe and a year as the president and chief financial officer at digital health startup Livongo. He was introduced to Caption Health last fall by one of its investors, the billionaire Vinod Khosla. He has chosen to become its chief executive. (Herper, 10/1)
Stat:
At Biogen, Drug Developer Al Sandrock Gets A Chance To Take His Shot
Biogen announced Tuesday that its R&D chief is leaving for a venture capital firm and CEO job, only six months after the high-profile failure of the company’s Alzheimer’s drug. His duties will be taken over by Al Sandrock, Biogen’s chief medical officer, who has become more synonymous with Biogen (BIIB) than any other executive. In the end, that could be a good thing. (Herper, 10/1)
The Wall Street Journal:
Bayer Bows To Investors With New Board Appointment
Bayer AG Tuesday appointed a prominent U.S. agriculture expert to its board in the German chemicals and pharmaceuticals company’s latest effort to convince investors that it has its troubled crop-science business under control. Bayer said Ertharin Cousin, a former director of the United Nations World Food Program, would succeed German manager Thomas Ebeling on its supervisory board. (Bender, 10/1)
USA Today:
Zantac Pulled Over Cancer Risk: What We Know
Zantac and its generic varieties are coming off store shelves after the Food and Drug Administration revealed it found a chemical that could be linked to cancer. Monday, pharmacy chains CVS and Walgreens announced they would suspend sales of Zantac brand pills and generic versions that contain ranitidine, the active ingredient of the drug commonly used to treat heartburn after the FDA found a "low level" of a possible carcinogen called nitrosodimethylamine (NDMA). Although the chains suspended sales, the FDA said it's not recommending users stop taking the drug. Zantac maker Sanofi said it isn't halting shipments of the drug in the USA. (Molina, 10/1)
