The Deep View: AI for Good: AI is speeding up drug development.

Posted on May 15, 2025 by michelleclarke2015
AI for Good: AI is speeding up drug development
Source: ChatGPT 4o
AI is helping pharmaceutical researchers find new treatments faster and cheaper by surfacing promising compounds buried deep in massive datasets. Dotmatics, a R&D software company, recently acquired by Siemens for $5.1B, is applying AI to identify potential drug candidates in a fraction of the time it used to take.
Phil Mounteney, VP of Science and Technology at Dotmatics, explains it like this: “The art of drug discovery is really finding drugs in these massive haystacks of data. AI is like a supercharged magnet that helps us sort through those haystacks and find the needle way more efficiently than before.”
Why it matters: Drug development is notoriously long and expensive. It can take up to 10 years and cost between $2 and $6 billion to bring a single drug to market. Of that, roughly six years are spent on early discovery—just identifying the compound that might work. Dotmatics is using AI to cut that phase down to as little as two years.
Faster discovery means earlier trials, quicker regulatory paths and lower costs for companies and patients alike. The company believes that AI could reduce the full research and clinical timeline by as much as 50 percent.
How it works: Dotmatics combines AI with scientific data platforms to accelerate each step of the R&D process:
It scans huge chemical libraries to identify overlooked or repurposable compounds.It models how drug candidates interact with target proteins or diseases.It automates lab workflows that used to take researchers weeks.It pulls from historic datasets to inform present-day projects.
Mounteney says AI played a key role in accelerating the COVID mRNA vaccine rollout by leveraging years of stored research and rapidly analyzing it to guide development.
Big picture: Drug discovery may be one of the most direct ways AI can improve human health. Tools like Dotmatics are not replacing scientists but instead giving them the speed and precision to find answers faster. With over $300 million in projected revenue for 2025, the company is betting that faster cures can also mean a stronger business case. 
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About michelleclarke2015

Life event that changes all: Horse riding accident in Zimbabwe in 1993, a fractured skull et al including bipolar anxiety, chronic fatigue …. co-morbidities (Nietzche 'He who has the reason why can deal with any how' details my health history from 1993 to date). 17th 2017 August operation for breast cancer (no indications just an appointment came from BreastCheck through the Post). Trinity College Dublin Business Economics and Social Studies (but no degree) 1997-2003; UCD 1997/1998 night classes) essays, projects, writings. Trinity Horizon Programme 1997/98 (Centre for Women Studies Trinity College Dublin/St. Patrick's Foundation (Professor McKeon) EU Horizon funded: research study of 15 women (I was one of this group and it became the cornerstone of my journey to now 2017) over 9 mth period diagnosed with depression and their reintegration into society, with special emphasis on work, arts, further education; Notes from time at Trinity Horizon Project 1997/98; Articles written for Irishhealth.com 2003/2004; St Patricks Foundation monthly lecture notes for a specific period in time; Selection of Poetry including poems written by people I know; Quotations 1998-2017; other writings mainly with theme of social justice under the heading Citizen Journalism Ireland. Letters written to friends about life in Zimbabwe; Family history including Michael Comyn KC, my grandfather, my grandmother's family, the O'Donnellan ffrench Blake-Forsters; Moral wrong: An acrimonious divorce but the real injustice was the Catholic Church granting an annulment – you can read it and make your own judgment, I have mine. Topics I have written about include annual Brain Awareness week, Mashonaland Irish Associataion in Zimbabwe, Suicide (a life sentence to those left behind); Nostalgia: Tara Hill, Co. Meath.
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