CONTEXT:  Machine learning algorithms and large RWD data sets combining to look for “new” indications for existing compounds.  Make the most of what you’ve got is certainly a very cost effective way to extend patent lives. IMPACT:  High READ TIME:  2 mins Quality Level Mean [1 – 10]:  9 1. “January 05, 2021 – Machine learning and real-world data could help researchers identify new uses for existing drugs, leading to accelerated drug repurposing, according to a study published in Nature Machine Intelligence.”  2. “Researchers set out to develop a machine learning framework that combines large patient care-related datasets with high-powered computation to arrive at repurposed drug candidates and the estimated effects of those existing medications on a defined set of outcomes.”  3. “We don’t answer whether drug A or drug B works for this disease or not, but figure out which treatment will have the better performance,” said Zhang, who leads the Artificial Intelligence in Medicine Lab and is a core faculty member in the Translational Data Analytics Institute at Ohio State.”  4. “The group hypothesized that the model would identify drugs that could lower the risk for heart failure and stroke in coronary heart disease patients.”  5. “While this study focuses on proposed repurposing of drugs to prevent heart failure and stroke in patients with coronary artery disease, researchers said that the framework could be applied to other conditions as well.”  Source URL: https://healthitanalytics.com/news/machine-learning-real-world-data-find-new-uses-for-existing-drugs