Future pharma: Turning to technology for a second opinion
Supercomputer’s like IBM’s Watson may soon be informing patients. Claudia M. Caruana reports
By on May 31, 2012Dr. Watson will see you now. Well, not actually. But advice from the world’s most famous supercomputer could soon be coming to a physician’s office or pharmacy near you. Watson, the IBM supercomputer that trounced two competitors on the popular American game show Jeopardy!, will give physicians information that could help them make sound medical decisions.
It took close to four years and approximately $24 million in research and development costs for IBM scientists to create Watson. Herbert Chase, professor of clinical medicine in the Department of Biomedical Informatics, Columbia University School of Physicians and Surgeons in New York, is one of several medical researchers working with IBM to “retrofit” the computer to help doctors diagnose and treat patients.
Chase and other medical researchers have been feeding Watson the contents of medical textbooks, journals, and even anecdotal accounts of illness, many of which are posted on blogs. They are already testing its answers to tricky questions that refer to difficult-to-diagnose conditions. They also are checking for possible treatment options for patients.
“Watson will not replace physicians,” Chase emphasizes, “but the hope is that the information stored in its memory will make a physician’s work easier and faster, providing much of the information needed to make a valid diagnosis. We are not necessarily looking for one answer, but several possibilities to make a differential diagnosis.”
Tapping into Watson’s wisdom
If a patient has symptoms of tick-caused Lyme disease, for example, “We might provide Watson with blood test results and other information about the patient’s condition, including her past health history,” Chase explains. “Watson might tell us the patient probably has Lyme disease and perhaps some other conditions. But that won’t be all. Let’s say we tell Watson the patient is allergic to antibiotic A and her insurance might not cover antibiotic B. Are there antibiotics C and D that we should consider in treating this patient? Watson should be able to give us some suggestions.”
Chase says that the use of anecdotal comments fed into Watson can also helpful. He gives the example of a patient taking a cholesterol-lowering drug who complains about not being able to sleep. “This is something we haven’t heard about before and not in the medical or pharmaceutical journal, but checking Watson, we learn about people writing on several blogs about their sleep issues while taking these drugs,” Chase says. “So, the physician tells the patient to take the drug earlier in the day and see if that resolves the sleep issue. It does.”
How soon will Watson be “seeing” patients? Chase believes it could be soon, but patients should not expect to see Watson in the examining room. Watson will not be there. He envisions the medical practitioner subscribing to a service that will allow him or her to tap into Watson’s wisdom. With the use of a hand-held instrument the size of an M4 Player, the physician can plug in information and wait for Watson’s take on the situation. Elementary, for Watson.
For more stories from our Future Pharma series, see Future pharma: Making the most of the tablet takeover, Future pharma: Making games work for pharma, Future Pharma: A closer look at the iPad in pharma/physician relations, Future pharma: The home as healthcare center, and Future pharma: Pharma’s new high-tech toolkit.
For more on patients and technology, see Special report: Patient's Week 2011 and Special report: Mobile apps and pharma.
For all the latest pharma trends, join the sector’s other key players at SFE USA on June 12-14 in Somerset, NJ and Emerging Markets USA in June.
For exclusive business insights, download eyeforpharma's Pharma Emerging Markets Report 2011-12, Pharma Key Account Management Report 2011-12 and Pharma e-Marketing Strategy.
For all the latest business analysis and insight for the pharma industry, sign up to eyeforpharma’s newsletters and follow us on Twitter.