Shanghai: Huawei plans to expand its cooperation with pharmaceutical companies, mainly in China, as it seeks a larger role in the growing use of artificial intelligence in drug research and healthcare.
William Zhang, president of Huawei's healthcare business unit, said the company expects to deepen cooperation with pharmaceutical companies in areas ranging from drug development to clinical practice and final implementation.
Zhang said Huawei already has some cooperation with hospitals in clinical practice and is exploring more opportunities. He did not identify the companies involved in possible new partnerships or give details about specific agreements.
The projects are currently mainly with Chinese drugmakers, according to Zhang.
Huawei is seeking to use its artificial intelligence tools and computing technology in pharmaceutical research and healthcare applications. The company already provides tools for screening potentially useful drug compounds and uses its Ascend and Kunpeng computing technologies in AI research.
One of the clearest examples came in May, when Huawei, state owned Guangzhou Pharmaceutical Holdings and Beijing StoneWise Technology signed an ecosystem cooperation agreement on AI drug research.
The agreement was signed in Guangzhou on May 20. The three parties said they would combine pharmaceutical research resources, AI drug design technology and Huawei's computing infrastructure to develop an AI based drug research platform.
StoneWise said a test of the system generated 320 molecules in a single round and achieved efficiency 1.08 times the industry average. The company also said Guangzhou Pharmaceutical was able to identify potential compounds within one to two weeks during the testing process.
The figures were reported by StoneWise and the companies involved in the project. They should not be treated as independent evidence that Huawei's technology is generally more effective than other AI drug research systems.
The cooperation could cover areas including target discovery, molecular design, virtual screening, clinical research and regulatory submission, according to Guangzhou Pharmaceutical.
Huawei's healthcare work also extends to hospitals. On February 1, Huawei signed a cooperation agreement with Ruijin Hospital in Shanghai. The agreement covers smart hospital development, medical artificial intelligence, information and communication infrastructure and other areas of digital healthcare.
Huawei Cloud said in June that more than 20 hospitals had joined its Smart Healthcare Zone. It said its smart pathology technology had been used across top tier, prefecture level and county level hospitals in China.
Huawei has also been building a wider healthcare technology network. In June, the company launched its AHEAD programme, aimed at developing cooperation in artificial intelligence and digital transformation in healthcare and education. Huawei said the programme involved more than 500 industry customers and partners from more than 40 countries and regions.
Huawei's expansion comes as other major technology companies are building partnerships with pharmaceutical groups. Nvidia, for example, has announced AI related cooperation with drugmakers including Eli Lilly and Novo Nordisk.
Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly interested in artificial intelligence because drug development can take many years and requires large amounts of research and testing. AI systems can help researchers examine large amounts of information, identify possible drug targets, design molecules and support some stages of clinical research.
However, AI does not remove the need for laboratory research, clinical trials or regulatory approval. A drug candidate identified with the help of AI must still undergo scientific testing and meet medical and regulatory requirements before it can become an approved medicine.
Huawei is therefore expanding its role in a market where technology companies and pharmaceutical groups are increasingly working together. Its existing projects with Chinese drugmakers and hospitals provide a base for the wider cooperation described by Zhang.
The details of the planned new pharmaceutical partnerships remain unclear. Huawei has not identified all of the companies involved or explained which specific clinical applications could be developed through the new cooperation.
The expansion will show how far Huawei can move its AI technology from research projects into practical pharmaceutical and medical applications. For now, the company is seeking a larger role in the use of artificial intelligence across China's pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors.