Emerging role of artificial intelligence in therapeutics for COVID-19: a systematic review

Abstract

To elucidate the role of artificial intelligence (AI) in therapeutics for coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). Five databases were searched (December 2019-May 2020). We included both published and pre-print original articles in English that applied AI, machine learning or deep learning in drug repurposing, novel drug discovery, vaccine and antibody development for COVID-19. Out of 31 studies included, 16 studies applied AI for drug repurposing, whereas 10 studies utilized AI for novel drug discovery. Only four studies used AI technology for vaccine development, whereas one study generated stable antibodies against SARS-CoV-2. Approx. 50% of studies exclusively targeted 3CLpro of SARS-CoV-2, and only two studies targeted ACE/TMPSS2 for inhibiting host viral interactions. Around 16% of the identified drugs are in different phases of clinical evaluation against COVID-19. AI has emerged as a promising solution of COVID-19 therapeutics. During this current pandemic, many of the researchers have used AI-based strategies to process large databases in a more customized manner leading to the faster identification of several potential targets, novel/repurposing of drugs and vaccine candidates. A number of these drugs are either approved or are in a late-stage clinical trial and are potentially effective against SARS-CoV2 indicating validity of the methodology. However, as the use of AI-based screening program is currently in budding stage, sole reliance on such algorithms is not advisable at this current point of time and an evidence based approach is warranted to confirm their usefulness against this life-threatening disease. Communicated by Ramaswamy H. Sarma.

Keywords: Artificial intelligence; COVID-19; drug repurposing; novel drug discovery; vaccine development.

Figure 1.

Artificial intelligence (AI) is the general ability of machines to perform tasks that generally require human intelligence such as to perceive, recognize, reason, plan, or to take action. ML is a subset of AI that involves the capabilities of machines to learn from data without explicit programming. Further, a subset of ML methods called DL, uses artificial neural networks to determine more complex structures and pattern data. These AI systems are employed for drug repurposing of already approved drugs, for novel drugs discovery and vaccine development for COVID-19 therapeutics.

Figure 2.

PRISMA flow diagram for the systematic review of role of artificial intelligence in therapeutics for COVID-19. The flow diagram template is adapted from the PRISMA statement.

Figure 3.

Number of articles using artificial intelligence per therapeutic approach and trend of articles over time. Majority (52%) of the studies applied AI for drug repurposing (n = 16) whereas 32% studies utilized AI for novel drug discovery (n = 10). Four studies used AI for vaccine development whereas one study generated stable antibodies against SARS-CoV-2 using AI (inset). Figure shows the time trend and number of studies utilizing AI for drug repurposing, novel drug design and vaccine development for COVID-19 therapeutics from 01 December 2019 to 19 May 2020.

Figure 4.

Current status of identified drugs for repurposing for COVID-19. Among the identified drugs, only 20% were evaluated in vitro. Among the drugs, which were evaluated in vitro (n = 14), 12 showed in vitro efficacy (85%). However, only 4% ligands were evaluated in animal studies. Around 16% of the identified drugs are in different phases of clinical evaluation.