A NEW ERA IN ONCOLOGY: TACKLING THE DREADED 'C' WORD WITH AI

AS ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE RESHAPES HEALTHCARE, THE FIGHT AGAINST CANCER IS WITNESSING UNPRECEDENTED BREAKTHROUGHS, FROM MICROSCOPIC NANOROBOTS TO VIRTUAL TREATMENT TWINS. THIS ACCELERATION IN DRUG DISCOVERY IS JUST ONE EXAMPLE OF AI'S IMPACT ON ONCOLOGY, NOW AND IN THE FUTURE.

- Tiana Cline

According to the British Journal of Cancer, cancer research is one of the most heavilyfunded areas of science. Billions are poured into research every year but the main ways in which we treat cancer surgery, chemotherapy and radiotherapy - haven't changed in the past 80 years.

But now, artificial intelligence (AI) is transforming this landscape entirely, revolutionizing not just how doctors diagnose and treat cancer, but how we discover new treatments. "I think we are really in the golden age of scientific discovery, powered by the cloud and AI at scale," says Dr Rowland Illing, Amazon Web Services' Chief Medical Officer and Director of Global Healthcare and Nonprofits. At its core, cancer presents a fundamental challenge: cells that go rogue, growing and dividing uncontrollably without the normal genetic 'braking system' that regulates cell growth.

"But finding a way to put the brakes on is where it gets interesting," says Dr Divya Chander, a physician, neuroscientist and futurist.

For Chander, there are three key areas where AI is making significant inroads: drug discovery, designing new therapeutics (like living medicines) and precision clinical trials and precision medicine.

From data to diagnosis

Traditional drug discovery is expensive and time-consuming but AI models can accelerate the process by identifying shared genomic features across diseases to predict effectiveness.

"It's incredibly helpful because with older medications, we already know they're safe," says Chander. "When we find drugs that are useful for another indication, it's really an extraordinary gift." This is particularly important for rare and undiagnosed diseases, including certain cancers, that affect over 300 million people globally (but only 5%-7% have FDA-approved treatments).