New York, Oct 6 || Scientists have been trying to improve advanced pain management using artificial intelligence (AI) for drug discovery and now, an AI algorithm has identified multiple gut metabolites and US FDA-approved drugs that have potential to be repurposed as non-addictive, non-opioid pain medications.
Feixiong Cheng, Director of Cleveland Clinic’s Genome Center, and tech giant IBM are using AI for drug discovery in advanced pain management.
The team used the new AI tool to predict how 369 gut microbial metabolites and 2,308 FDA- approved drugs would interact with 13 pain-associated receptors.
The AI framework identified several compounds that could be repurposed to treat pain. Studies are underway to validate these compounds in the lab, according to the study published in the journal Cell Reports Medicine.
Treating chronic pain with opioids is still a challenge due to the risk of severe side effects and dependency.
“Recent evidence has shown that drugging a specific subset of pain receptors in a protein class called G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) can provide non-addictive, non-opioid pain relief. The question is how to target those receptors,” said Yunguang Qiu, a postdoctoral fellow in Dr Cheng's lab.