Alzheimer’s
disease has proven to be stubbornly difficult to unravel, but Roche
aims to tap into a new tool that promises to accelerate the process: the
quantum computer.
Through a multi-year partnership with the U.K.’s Cambridge Quantum Computing, the Swiss drugmaker’s task force plans to explore the nascent technology’s potential for designing and delivering new therapeutic compounds.
The partnership follows a similar endeavor launched earlier this year
between Google and Boehringer Ingelheim, which plans to staff its own quantum laboratory
as part of the Big Pharma’s digital transformation. Google has also
been developing its own quantum hardware, in the Sycamore processor,
which it says has outperformed so-called “classical” supercomputers.
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While typical machines use the binary system
of 1s and 0s to solve equations, quantum computers list an individual
piece of information as 1, 0 or the potential for it to be either value
at the same time. It is expected that this method will lend itself well
to modeling molecular interactions.
Roche will employ CQC’s quantum chemistry software platform EUMEN, a
set of algorithms designed to simulate how atoms behave when absorbing
energy, and used to form new pharmaceuticals and other specialty
materials.
“For many years quantum computing has held out great promise for
discovering new therapeutics that aid humanity in fighting some of the
most devastating and damaging diseases,” CQC CEO Ilyas Khan said.
“We are pleased that due to the careful and pioneering efforts of our
research teams, some of this promise is starting to come to fruition.”
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Last December, CQC raised $45 million in financing from investors
including Honeywell Ventures, IBM Ventures, JSR Corporation, Serendipity
Capital, Alvarium Investments and Talipot Holdings, to boost the
commercialization of its enterprise-level quantum computing
applications.
CQC previously partnered with Honeywell for access to the multinational’s new Model H1 quantum system, which is slated to grow in computing power across multiple generations over the next 10 years.
“As quantum hardware continues to advance and scale, enterprise
customers across a variety of sectors are starting to appreciate just
how significantly quantum computing will impact on their operations, and
we have started to see the benefits of our product-first focus,” Khan said at the time.
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