Bayer is transforming healthcare by harnessing cutting-edge artificial intelligence (AI) technologies. AI unlocks a wealth of insights and efficiencies that help support physicians and improve treatment options and outcomes for patients.
Our data scientists are developing cutting-edge technologies to help us make better, more informed decisions faster in many areas of our business. AI is enabling us to provide solutions with increasing speed and efficiency – making it a crucial tool in the fight against disease.
AI in Drug Discovery: Mapping the chemical space
The discovery of new drugs is an immensely complex and time-consuming endeavor. Identifying compounds that bind to specific disease-related targets requires the screening of extremely large numbers of small molecules.
AI is revolutionizing the way potential compounds are being identified. For instance, AI is powering Bayer’s search for new drug targets – starting with heart failure. Using cutting edge technologies such as knowledge graph for patient subtyping, in-silico target identification and target ranking we aim to bring much needed treatments to patients – faster and with higher precision.
Clinical Trials: New approaches, better results
Due to complex planning, meticulous design requirements, and challenges in patient recruitment, clinical trials are the most time-consuming step in drug development. Bayer is using artificial intelligence to improve the clinical trial process, increasing both efficiency and safety.
Future Clinical Trials, a research collaboration between Bayer in Finland, Aalto University and the Helsinki University Hospital, aims to transform the way trials are planned and conducted, improving efficiency and safety of clinical drug research. Building on real-world, high quality medical data, artificial intelligence is utilized to identify the right patients for trials. Allowing for a more efficient classification of patients and due to its ability to recognize even the rarest side effects, AI is helping to avoid potential risks and achieve better results. The partners are also investigating how AI could be used to augment the way clinical trials are designed by introducing external control groups using historical, virtual or synthetic data sets. Harnessing AI in this way has the potential to broaden our approach to clinical trial design by adding innovative and valuable methods to study the effects of new drugs – ultimately increasing the speed with which new treatments can reach patients all over the world.
Medical Coding: Proprietary AI saves years of manual work
Bayer has been using natural language processing (NLP) – the technology behind large language models like GPT – for several years. It plays an important role in medical coding, where the information collected by physicians in case reports must be translated into standardized terms and categories that can be analyzed and reviewed. If done manually this is a tedious and time-consuming process. Bayer is using a proprietary AI solution to tackle this. The large language model (LLM) can process vast amounts of medical information with 96 percent accuracy. To ensure precision, Bayer’s medical coding is performed with a “four-eyes-principle” with human medical coders reviewing every single code proposed by the AI. Using this approach, Bayer has been able to process millions of terms since 2017, accelerating clinical trials by approximately 170.000 hours – more than 19 years – in the process.
Medical Imaging: Reducing the burden on radiologists
Besides drug discovery, Bayer is also using AI technologies to drive innovation in the field of radiology. Working with Blackford Analysis, a recently acquired imaging AI platform and solutions provider, Bayer has launched Calantic Digital Solutions in 2022. Offering a growing number of AI-powered digital radiology applications, Calantic Digital Solutions is designed to support radiologists by automating time-consuming tasks, accelerating workflows, and enabling improved detection. The platform helps to reduce workload and to free up time, allowing radiologists and their teams to support a larger number of patients and their treating physicians even faster, by delivering treatment-critical answers and a clear direction – from diagnosis to care.
Towards an AI-powered future
Across Bayer, hundreds of initiatives are underway to leverage AI in our quest for innovation. The impact that artificial intelligence is already having today makes it clear that we are only at the beginning of an era of unimaginable innovation. Driven by our scientific values and our vision of effective, sustainable, and accessible Health for All, Bayer scientists will continue to explore how this paradigm-shifting technology can be used for better.