What You Should Do Before the Masses Stampede Into AI-Drug Discovery

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It’s not every morning you wake up and read about a scientific discovery that could be an absolute game-changer for both humanity and investors who get in ahead of the trend.

I almost couldn’t believe my eyes when I saw it yesterday.

Researchers at MIT have used artificial intelligence (AI) in the form of neural networks to identify a powerful new antibiotic compound. The drug could be a game-changer because it has the potential to tackle treatment-resistant bacteria strands that current drugs are helpless against.

This scourge of treatment-resistant bacteria has been worrying health officials for decades as it threatens the lives of more and more people each year.

I’ve said for some time now that 2020 will be the Year of Biotech. With each passing day, that prediction looks more spot on…

If you don’t know yet, I’m super bullish on innovative companies using artificial intelligence to discover new drugs for some of the nastiest life-threatening conditions.

AI, by analyzing massive amounts of data quickly, can help identify potential new drugs faster. This significantly reduces the time and tremendous expense of getting new drugs to market — the current average is $2.6 billion and up to 15 years. Meanwhile, the success rate of it being approved by the FDA is just 12%, according to a Tufts University study.

Now, we’ve learned AIs can “think” outside the box and come up with novel approaches to drug discovery itself.

In fact, the computer model the MIT researchers used was designed to choose potential antibiotics using different mechanisms than are currently in use. Incredibly, the AI can screen more than a hundred million chemical compounds in just days.

Believe it or not, only a few new antibiotics have been discovered in recent decades, and most are just slight variations on existing medicines. Again, part of the problem again is the huge amounts of time and money needed to screen for new treatments.

Without new drugs, resistant strains of bacteria have been wreaking havoc unchecked. More than 2.8 million people in the U.S. alone suffer an infection from antibiotic-resistant bacteria each year. Sadly, some 35,000 people die from these infections, according to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC).

At MIT, researchers trained their AI to scan for chemical signals that can make molecules effectively kill E. coli. They focused the AI on about 2,500 molecules, including 1,700 FDA-approved drugs and 800 natural products, and then had it look at another set of 6,000 compounds that might work as drugs.

The molecule the AI identified, called halicin, was actually a possible diabetes drug. It has a different structure than any existing antibiotics and a low toxicity to human cells, according to MIT News.

Researchers found that halicin — named after the fictional AI system in the sci-fi film 2001: A Space Odyssey — worked against dozens of resistant bacteria strains, including one associated with resistant tuberculosis.

Turns out, the drug interferes with the ability of the bacteria to maintain an electrochemical gradient across the cell membrane. That fundamental property could make it difficult for bacteria to develop resistance, researchers say.

Again, this looks like a game-changer for a new generation of antibiotics that, if proven effective, will be used around the world.

But it’s really just the beginning for using AI in drug discovery. The potential for new blockbuster treatments is mind-boggling.

I believe it’s one of hypergrowth trend investors can’t afford to miss out on.

IQVIA estimates that global pharma spending will reach $1.5 trillion in 2023. AI has a real shot at disrupting this industry, leaving some of the best small yet growing firms in this space in prime position.

The Opportunity

We can get a glimpse of the building excitement by looking at a healthcare software company using sophisticated computer techniques to discover new drugs.

Shrodinger (SDGR), based in New York City, had its public debut on February 6. In a matter of weeks, its share price has climbed over 89% to $54.19. The stock is on fire, and investors can’t get enough.

But it’s not the only one.

I’ve got two brand-new plays on this opportunity in my new Microcap Millionaire Portfolio. And they’re absolutely tearing it up right now.

The first is a small firm capitalizing on two red-hot trends in today’s market — AI and biotech. It also uses a proprietary machine learning algorithm to analyze troves of data to discover new drugs.

After we added it to the portfolio, the stock doubled in just seven trading days. It has pulled back a little but remains up over 71%.

The future looks bright for this firm as the FDA recently signed off on a Phase 1b/2 clinical trial to evaluate one of its drugs to treat drug addiction.

Another more recent addition to the Microcap Millionaire Portfolio is an even tinier company that specializes in innovative cancer detection and therapy solutions.

By being a first mover in the AI-powered detection of breast cancer, it’s well positioned to take big market share and expand into other cancers, which really opens up staggering potential. Shares recently jumped on news that the company is pioneering a new way to treat brain cancer.

In eight trading days, the stock is up over 19%.

As you can imagine, I am very excited to see where these stocks will go in the future… and how much healthcare is transformed.

And it’s all thanks to revolutionary new ways researchers are using AI to create potentially life-saving drugs.

P.S. Most people don’t realize yet how impactful AI will be in the global healthcare industry. It’s going to be absolutely massive and transformative. 

I especially like the chance to get in early in small stocks set to grow large… and make investors a lot of money in the process.

I have a whole system designed to do that, which I explain in the recent Microcap Millionaire Project event. More than 10,000 people tuned in to see how buying microcaps can “boost” the gains they’re seeing from blue chip stocks and index funds. You can watch the full presentation here.

I also released my 10 favorite microcap stocks at this point. We already locked in big profits on one, but the remaining nine are also in high-growth industries that could soar 1,000% or more. Click here to learn how you can get started today.

Matt McCall’s MoneyLine Podcast

Click here to listen to Matt McCall’s MoneyLine podcast! This week,  Matt fills us in on earnings season. The world’s largest cannabis company reported strong numbers… so could this be the trigger to ignite the next major rally? Nvidia (NVDA), a leading chipmaker, also reported blowout results that show just how strong the tech sector is. Finally, Matt wraps up with his thoughts on biotech IPOs and their huge money-making opportunities.

You can subscribe to this podcast on iTunes, Stitcher, Spotify, or wherever you listen to podcasts.

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