Center for Accelerated Drug Discovery

10 years. $2.6 billion. That’s how long it takes on average and at what cost for a new medicine to be commercialized in the marketplace. Imagine if we could reduce the time to market by half.

Patients are counting on us to bring new discoveries and new treatments, including medicines that are targeted, safe, affordable, and accessible. The creation of the American Heart Association (AHA) Center for Accelerated Drug Discovery, is part of a new strategic business relationship with the Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory. Together, we will combine world-class technology and high impact biology to develop a comprehensive reference atlas of cell-protein targets to accelerate and hone drug discovery.

Leveraging one of the world’s most powerful computer facilities at Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, we will create a simulated environment that precisely predicts how drugs bind to their target proteins and generate a robust drug discovery pipeline. Just as cloud technology is empowering researchers to uncover new patterns, identify new questions and find new answers, machine learning will allow the biomedical community to validate targeted drug hypotheses that have higher probabilities of success while reducing time to market by potentially 50 percent.

This novel approach could alleviate suffering from heart disease, stroke, and other diseases and chronic conditions. The AHA’s leading science combined with Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory leading-edge computational engines will speed progress and give rise to high-value treatments, making therapeutic innovations more readily available and more affordable.