Every great scientific breakthrough starts the same way – with a question. This cycle – ask, explore, test, learn – aims to uncover truths from meticulous observation. In the case of drug discovery, it’s like trying to solve a puzzle with invisible pieces, and the process is unpredictable and expensive.

Developing new medicines is a torturously long and complex process, and the global failure rates are at around 90%, says Dr John Woodland, a research officer at UCT’s Holistic Drug Discovery and Development Centre, known as H3D. As the continent’s first and only drug discovery and development centre, H3D is now using AI to develop medicines for infectious diseases as well as building models that will improve the outcomes of treatment for African patients. Dr Jason Hlozek, an AI/ML investigator working in drug discovery at H3D, says the centre is using AI to improve its “wet” lab work, where hands-on biological and chemical experiments are done.