From treating cancer to the early detection of ALS, medicine as we know is is being revolutionized by artificial intelligence \u2014 at a rate unthinkable just a handful of years ago.<\/p>\n
This past August, Moderna and Merck announced a \u201clandmark moment\u201d in the testing of a vaccine for melanoma, the deadliest form of skin cancer.<\/p>\n
The trial took place on 1,100 patients and was only possible thanks to AI, which analyzed a piece of each patient\u2019s removed tumor to create a highly\u00a0personalized version of the vaccine<\/a>.<\/p>\n Dr. Zev Williams says, \u201cWe\u2019re potentially at the dawn of medicine\u2019s golden age,\u201d Columbia University Fertility Center<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re potentially at the dawn of medicine\u2019s golden age,\u201d Zev Williams, director of the super computer-driven Columbia University Fertility Center, told The Post.<\/p>\n \u201cWe\u2019re able to have insights and abilities that had never been possible.\u201d<\/p>\n The new breakthrough could help prevent melanoma from spreading further or returning. It is still in the testing stage, but scientists say the results are very positive and the approach and research behind it will likely be adaptable to other cancers in the future.<\/p>\n \u201cNone of this is possible without\u00a0digital technology,\u201d Wade Davis, Moderna\u2019s senior vice president for digital, told The Post. \u201c[The technology] is critical to navigating the inherent complexities that come with creating one therapy for one patient and helping us to move with speed and precision.\u201d<\/p>\n Before Kaila Mabus was handed a treatment for Castleman disease, doctors were talking about her \u201cnot being able to make it.\u201d Courtesy of Kaila Mabus<\/p>\n AI\u2019s advantage resides in its ability\u00a0to analyze vast sums of\u00a0data \u2014\u00a0decades of opinions, case\u00a0studies,\u00a0research and testing results \u2014 more than any one doctor could remember, many times over.<\/p>\n \u201cIt allows us to consider the possibilities across all drugs and all diseases,\u201d explained Dr. David Fajgenbaum, who co-founded an AI driven non-profit called\u00a0Every Cure<\/a>\u00a0as well as Castleman Disease Collaborative Network.\u00a0\u201cWe utilize the world\u2019s knowledge, rather than relying only on what is in our brains.\u201d<\/p>\n Kaila Mabus has AI and Castleman Disease Collaborative Network to thank for her health. In her teens, she was diagnosed with Castleman disease, a rare disorder of the lymphatic system. It stymied her immunity, led to what she called \u201cfluid overload\u201d and resulted in renal failure. <\/p>\n She once became so debilitated\u00a0while shopping that,\u00a0she told The Post, \u201cI had to lay on the floor of a grocery store because I was too tired to move.\u201d<\/p>\n Thanks to a treatment devised through an innovative use of artificial intelligence, Kaila Mabus told The Post, she was given \u201ca new life.\u201d Courtesy of Kaila Mabus<\/p>\n After trying some dozen treatments, including several rounds of chemotherapy, she\u00a0feared that\u00a0the disease was untreatable. So did her doctors. When the teenager was out of earshot, she now knows, \u201cthey talked about me not being able to make it.\u201d<\/p>\n Then it was suggested that Mabus try a medication called Ruxolitinib. The drug was designed to treat blood cancer \u2014 not Castleman disease \u2014 and the FDA had not approved it for such\u00a0application\u00a0(nor, to this day, has it). <\/p>\n But Fajgenbaum pioneered an innovative application of artificial intelligence that uses the technology as a kind of matchmaker for diseases and FDA-approved drugs.<\/p>\n \u00a0\u201cWe don\u2019t pick a disease upfront,\u201d explained Fajgenbaum who,\u00a0in 2010,\u00a0while attending medical school, got hit with a strain of Castleman Disease different to Mabus\u2019s and found an off-label treatment for his version.<\/p>\n Dr. David Fajgenbaum found a treatment for his incurable disease while in medical school. Now he uses AI to do the same for others. Variety via Getty Images<\/p>\n At that point, he did it all by hand, spending hours and hours pouring over research. Now, he\u2019s thrilled to have the technology to be more efficient in helping match sick people with medicines that can help them.<\/p>\n