A group of scientists from the Indian Institute of Technology (IIT) Roorkee has developed commercial drugs through the use of Artificial Intelligence (AI) to tackle coronavirus. The Machine Learning (ML) model based on the Bayes Algorithm was used to predict 10-FDA (Food and Drug Administration) approved drugs that could be used for the treatment of COVID-19. Many of the predicted drugs are already in use for the treatment of COVID-19, while some are in trials, an IIT Roorkee statement said.
The group of IIT Roorkee scientists was led by Professor Soumitra Satapathi of the institute. The scientists, as per the IIT Roorkee statement, have leveraged Artificial Intelligence (AI) to predict 10 FDA-approved commercial drugs available for the treatment of the disease. The study has been published in the prestigious journal PLOS One. The other co-authors of the study include Sovesh Mohapatra, Prathul Nath, Manisha Chatterjee, Neeladrisingha Das, Deepjyoti Kalita and Partha Roy.
The IIT Roorkee statement further said: “The complexity in drug design and protocols regarding clinical trials often inhibit the process of developing various new drug combinations for the disease. IIT Roorkee scientists have successfully deployed Machine Learning-based-AI techniques to predict the commercial drugs that could be used for the treatment of COVID-19.”
"Our study predicts around ten FDA approved commercial drugs that can be used for the treatment," says Professor Satapathi, Principal Investigator and an Associate Professor of Physics in IIT Roorkee. He further added: “Given the need of the present time, the present approach will save a lot of resources and time for synthesizing novel drugs and thus will be useful for a vast majority of the medical research community.”
