Skip to main content

Computer scientists from Royal Holloway use Artificial Intelligence to predict the frequencies of drug side effects

Computer scientists from Royal Holloway use Artificial Intelligence to predict the frequencies of drug side effects

  • Date11 September 2020

A new algorithm has been developed by academics at Royal Holloway, University of London, to predict the side effects of drugs before they hit the market by using the same principle by which movies are recommended to users.

DrugsSideEffectEnglish

The machine learning approach, by Dr Diego Galeano and Professor Alberto Paccanaro, from the Department of Computer Science at Royal Holloway, is the first of its kind to be able to predict the percentage of the population that will be affected by a specific side effect elicited by a drug.

At present, it is well recognised that numerous side effects of medical drugs are not observed during clinical trials, but are only identified after the drug has reached the patients, which can cause significant morbidity and mortality in healthcare.

By using an algorithm similar to that of Netflix, which predicts its users taste in films and then suggest movies to watch, the new algorithm will help to determine how people will react to a drug and the percentage of people who will have side effects after the first stages of human trials, and therefore direct the trial going forward.

Professor Alberto Paccanaro, from Royal Holloway, said: “It is extremely important to predict what the frequencies of the side effects of the drugs will be after the first stages of clinical trials. At the moment, we don’t have any systems that can do this.”

While the accurate estimation of the frequencies of side effects is vital to patient care in the clinical practice, it is also essential for pharmaceutical companies as it reduces the risk of drug withdrawal from the market or of a costly reassessment of side effect frequencies through new clinical trials.

Dr Shantao Li and Professor Mark Gerstein from Yale University contributed to the assessment of the biological relevance of the results and are also co-authors of the paper.

Explore Royal Holloway

Get help paying for your studies at Royal Holloway through a range of scholarships and bursaries.

There are lots of exciting ways to get involved at Royal Holloway. Discover new interests and enjoy existing ones.

Heading to university is exciting. Finding the right place to live will get you off to a good start.

Whether you need support with your health or practical advice on budgeting or finding part-time work, we can help.

Discover more about our academic departments and schools.

Find out why Royal Holloway is in the top 25% of UK universities for research rated ‘world-leading’ or ‘internationally excellent’.

Royal Holloway is a research intensive university and our academics collaborate across disciplines to achieve excellence.

Discover world-class research at Royal Holloway.

Discover more about who we are today, and our vision for the future.

Royal Holloway began as two pioneering colleges for the education of women in the 19th century, and their spirit lives on today.

We’ve played a role in thousands of careers, some of them particularly remarkable.

Find about our decision-making processes and the people who lead and manage Royal Holloway today.