China has approved its first innovative Class 1 drug developed with the use of artificial intelligence. The approval for market launch was granted by the National Medical Products Administration of China (NMPA). This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Kursiv Media.
From the initial discovery of a drug candidate to the completion of clinical trials, three and a half years passed.
The drug Mprosevir was jointly developed by Westlake University, Westlake Laboratory, and Westlake Pharmaceuticals. It received conditional NMPA approval for the treatment of mild to moderate COVID-19 in adults.
Mprosevir belongs to Class 1 drugs. As Xinhua explains, in China this category includes innovative drugs that have not previously been marketed either domestically or abroad.
This is the highest category in China's drug registration system. Key requirements include a completely new chemical structure, a new mechanism of action, and clear clinical value.
Mprosevir also became the world's first small-molecule innovative drug approved after development using DNA-encoded library (DEL) technology. This occurred 34 years after the concept of DEL was first introduced.
In searching for the future drug, scientists combined artificial intelligence and DEL. AI was used for virtual screening to eliminate false positives and identify compounds with real potential for further development.
The DEL library used in the search for Mprosevir contained 49 billion compounds. In the first stage, the technology identified over 100 promising candidates.
With a traditional approach, individually testing over a hundred molecules would require significant human and other resources. The AI model reduced the list to nine candidates within a few days.
Subsequent testing showed that six of the nine molecules demonstrated higher activity, indicating the high accuracy of the preliminary selection.
After evaluating toxicity, metabolism, and other characteristics, the developers selected the molecule WLU6937 as the main candidate.
Over the next two years, the team conducted comprehensive optimization of the selected molecule. Scientists enhanced its activity, improved properties necessary for use as a drug, and reduced toxicity.
The development progressed from in vitro cell experiments and studies in mice to clinical trials. Artificial intelligence continued to play an important role in these stages as well.
According to the development team's assessment, the work on Mprosevir demonstrated that the application of artificial intelligence in drug development can already be effective and practically feasible.