Forbes: AI and quantum technology will transform healthcare and medical research

[Cheugy89]

Chuck Brooks has a piece in Forbes arguing that the combination of AI and quantum computing will transform healthcare and medical research. His main point is that classical AI on its own often ends up rediscovering compounds that are already known, rather than designing new molecules. Hybrid approaches that combine quantum and classical computing could help predict how molecules bind more accurately and design treatments nobody has seen before

He gives several examples of work already happening. IBM, Cleveland Clinic and RIKEN simulated protein and drug complexes with 12,635 atoms, which he describes as the largest yet simulated with quantum computers and around 40 times bigger than previous efforts. Algorithmiq worked with Cleveland Clinic and IBM on simulating photodynamic therapy for cancer, winning a Wellcome Leap Quantum for Bio award. Mayo Clinic has been developing heart scans using quantum sensors that detect the heart's magnetic field

There are drug discovery examples too. Moderna and IBM used quantum processors with between 80 and 156 qubits to model mRNA sequences of up to 60 nucleotides. St. Jude Children's Research Hospital built a hybrid quantum and classical model that generated candidate inhibitors for KRAS, a protein long seen as very hard to target in cancer, and two of fifteen molecules made showed promising activity

Brooks cites a World Economic Forum estimate that the AI in healthcare market could reach $491 billion by 2032, growing about 43 percent a year. He is also clear about the risks, including cybersecurity, bias, privacy, skills gaps, regulatory validation and fair access. He notes that quantum computing could also threaten the encryption protecting medical records, so healthcare needs to invest in quantum safe security

It is an upbeat article, and some of these are early results rather than breakthroughs. But the examples are interesting and fairly concrete. Which of these do you think will reach patients first? And does the idea of quantum computers helping design medicines excite or worry you?

Ai And Quantum Techwill Transform Healthcare And Medical Researchwww.forbes.com

[Henry]

Medical record encryption is the point people miss. Health data stays sensitive for a lifetime

Anything stolen today could be decrypted later when quantum computers mature. Hospitals should be among the first to move to post-quantum protection

[Panther21]

The mRNA work with Moderna is fascinating. Modelling how sequences fold could help design better vaccines more quickly. The pandemic showed how much speed matters there. Months saved could mean lives saved