A new drug created a robot
Last reviewed: 16.10.2021
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It's a secret that the process of creating and further testing new drugs is always very time-consuming and time-consuming. However, modern science does not stand still: now this question is solved not only by pharmacologists, but also by robots. Experts entrusted the creation of medicines to robots, as they are able to quickly and accurately calculate all the probable results and stop at the most optimal formula of the drug. The sounded mechanism plays an important role in the creation of medications, especially those that are resistant in a short period of time.
As described in the article Science Daily, the experiment was conducted by specialists representing the University of Cambridge. They managed to create a new medicine, whose action is aimed at treating malaria.
Malaria is an extremely dangerous pathology. According to statistics, only in Africa and in the south-east Asia of malaria die more than 500 thousand people each year. Preventive and curative measures for malaria are difficult. And the point, first of all, is that many strains of the pathogen are very quickly adjusted, developing resistance to medicines. Physicians have to constantly look for "slabinki" in order to destroy the malarial plasmodium.
To solve the existing problem, scientists connected a specialized robot named Eve: he had to calculate the method for destroying the causative agent of the disease.
Artificial intelligence of the robot did a lot of analytical work before making the appropriate conclusion: it turned out that a new substance known as triclosan can become a new drug. This substance to date, mass use, adding to detergents and toothpastes, as triclosan qualitatively removes most of the bacteria. The effect of the component is based on the inhibition of the enzyme enoyl reductase, which takes part in the production of fatty acids and in cellular trophic processes.
The robot was found that one of the properties of triclosan is suppression of the development of culture at one of the stages of growth of the malarial pathogen. In the course of the study, specialists found out that this substance has an effect on another plasmodium enzyme, dihydrofolate reductase. Several tests were performed: the enzyme was attempted to block with another antimalarial drug Pyrimethamine, however, strains resistant to this medication were already found in the world practice. It is noteworthy, but triclosan has shown high efficacy even in relation to these resistant strains of malaria. Scientists were surprised and delighted: Triclosan has a relatively low cost, it is mass produced all over the world. Therefore, the use of a new medication can begin in the very near future.
More details about the study and its results can be found on the pages of the publication Science Daily.
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