Novart is working with academics at Oxford University on big data research and development

with Oxford University to improve drug research and development using artificial intelligence. The collaboration will analyze MRI data from 35,000 multiple sclerosis patients and the results of IL-17 inhibitor trials to better understand the diseases that are important to Novartis' future.Since Vas Narasimhan took over as Novarma's chief executive, Swiss pharmaceutical companies have linked their future to digital technology and data science to make them stand out from their peers. However, while the combination of huge data sets and powerful computers could theoretically unlock the insights of drug development, there is actually some way to go before the vision of technological optimism begins.Novaral's five-year partnership with the Big Data Institute at Oxford University aims to bring this vision closer to reality. Partners have ambitions to change the way large data sets are combined and analyzed to gain insights to improve drug development and patient care.Mark Toms, Novart's UK chief scientific officer, said by email: "These technologies can detect disease patterns and signals earlier. "The ability to detect patterns in diseases and detect commonality between diseases can predict how patients will respond to new and existing drugs earlier than they do now."In the long run, Thomas believes the initiative will "reform the way Novartic clinical trials are designed and implemented" and identify "new opportunities and goals" for drug development. Early gains are expected to focus on the speed and accuracy of diagnosing diseases.Novart's efforts to realize these benefits will initially focus on two projects. For one project, partners have collected data on more than 35,000 MS patients, which they hope will reveal patterns and times of disease progress. Novartis is equipped with a clearer picture of the MS disease continuity, which it believes can be designed for more effective clinical trials.Related: Chief Digital Officer Lands In Large Pharmaceutical Technology Transformation, Test Innovation, Corner OfficeSecond Flagship Plan to View Clinical Trial Data for 11,000 Participants in Novarma's IL-17 Development Program Novart received the FDA's first approval for IL-17A antagonist Cosentyx in 2015 and last year acquired rights to the IL-17C inhibitor MOR106 from the Galapagos and MorphoSys.Novart will work with Oxford scientists to apply deep learning algorithms to imaging, proteomics, genomics and other types of data generated by its development team. Novartis believes the data may hide the idea that early reactions can be predicted, improving the prognosm of a variety of diseases, including psoriasis and rheumatoid arthritis.For now, this is true in most areas of artificial intelligence, and it is unclear whether this approach will achieve the optimism of its advocates. But with Novartis getting a lot of data and the leading data skills of the university and its neighbors, this partnership can be compared to any scientific boundary. (China Pharmaceutical 123 Network)