SBIR Phase I: A web portal for artificial intelligence (AI)-based comprehensive discovery of repositioning drugs

这项小型企业创新研究（SBIR）一期项目加速了潜在新药选择的开发，大大减少了时间和成本，改善了癌症患者的生存结果。该项目将采用一种新的人工智能（AI）技术，利用大数据，在用尽所有治疗方案后，全面发现治疗难治性非小细胞肺癌（NSCLC）患者的重新定位药物。药物重新定位（也称为药物再利用）涉及对现有药物进行新的治疗目的的研究。该软件产品使肿瘤学家能够选择重新定位药物和设计临床试验。这个项目将特别帮助那些在先前的治疗失败后没有选择治疗癌症患者的肿瘤学家和他们的患者。学术界和产业界专家之间的新型合作伙伴关系将提高该技术的有效性。项目期间构建的软件产品可以促进制药公司的研究和开发，使数百万癌症患者受益，并通过提高护理质量来减轻医疗负担。这项小企业创新研究（SBIR）第一阶段项目将测试开发一种软件产品的可行性，该软件产品使用人工智能（AI）专利技术开发，使肿瘤学家能够选择重新定位药物，用于治疗先前治疗失败的肺癌患者。基于已建立的概念证明，该项目将开发一种软件产品，该产品具有基于云的后端数据门户，其中包含使用人工智能技术发现的378多种治疗肺癌的治疗化合物。该解决方案还将有一个基于网络的前端，带有图形用户界面，供肿瘤学家根据患者反应特征和治疗肺癌的新适应症选择重新定位药物。由于重新定位药物的安全性已经建立，其新适应症的疗效测试可以绕过临床前研究和I期临床试验。该软件产品可以加速现有药物新适应症的II/III期临床试验，以获得美国食品和药物管理局（FDA）的批准。同时，该解决方案也将为制药公司的新药开发提供便利。一旦可行性得到验证，该团队将把软件产品扩展到其他癌症类型。该奖项反映了美国国家科学基金会的法定使命，并通过使用基金会的知识价值和更广泛的影响审查标准进行评估，被认为值得支持。

This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project accelerates the development of potential new drug options for improved survival outcomes of cancer patients with greatly reduced time and costs. This project will use a novel artificial intelligence (AI) technology that utilizes big data to comprehensively discover repositioning drugs for treating refractory non-small cell lung cancer (NSCLC) patients after exhausting all therapeutic options. Drug repositioning (also known as drug repurposing) involves the investigation of existing drugs for new therapeutic purposes. The software product enables oncologists to select repositioning drugs and design clinical trials. This project will specifically aid oncologists who do not have options to treat cancer patients after the prior therapies failed as well as their patients. The novel partnership between subject experts in academia and industry will increase the effectiveness of the technology. The software product built during the project can facilitate the research and development at pharmaceutical companies, benefit millions of cancer patients, and reduce the healthcare burden by improving the quality of care.This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will test the feasibility of developing a software product developed using a patented artificial intelligence (AI) technology that enables oncologists to choose among repositioning drugs for the treatment of lung cancer in patients with failed prior therapies. Based on established proofs of concept, this project will develop a software product with a cloud-based backend data portal with more than 378 therapeutic compounds discovered using AI technology for treating lung cancer. The solution will also have a web-based frontend with a graphical user interface for oncologists to select a repositioning drug based on patient responder characteristics and new indications for treating lung cancer. Since the safety profiles of repositioning drugs are established, the efficacy test of their new indications can bypass preclinical studies and Phase I clinical trials. The software product can accelerate Phase II/III clinical trials of the new indications of existing drugs for Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval. Meanwhile, this solution will also facilitate new drug development for pharmaceutical companies. Once feasibility is validated, the team will expand the software product to other cancer types.This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.