By Laurie Clarke
Publication Date: 2026-03-10 10:00:00
“I expect that in the next five to 10 years, the majority of new drug development could be driven by AI or even be based entirely on AI,” says Ding.
A limited revolution
But despite the advances enabled by AI, there are limitations. Many of the drug datasets are owned by biotech and pharmaceutical companies and are therefore not publicly available. “You need to get data on drug properties such as absorption, distribution, excretion and toxicity,” says Collins. “We don’t have those records.”
Currently, AI is most useful in the first screening part of the drug development process: target identification and searching for molecules that can bind to the target. These are just two steps in the long process required to develop new drugs. That means it may take some time for any of these potential treatments to make their way to patients, if at all.
“AI is revolutionizing drug discovery,” says Vendruscolo. “But only in very specific ways.”
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