Alzheimer’s is first target as Cambridge Quantum Computing collaborates with Roche
Cambridge Quantum Computing, the Bridge Street-based provider of quantum software, has announced a collaboration with pharmaceutical and healthcare company Roche to design and implement algorithms for early-stage drug discovery and development for Alzheimer’s.
The announcement is one of the first by a major pharma company to acknowledge an application of quantum computing for a specific research program. It also demonstrates Roche believes it can achieve value from quantum computing during a time when today’s early machines are still relatively unstable and error-ridden.
The multi-year collaboration is geared to design and implement noisy-intermediate-scale-quantum (NISQ) algorithms for early-stage drug discovery and development.
The application of quantum computing to pharmaceutical problems will accelerate Roche closer to quantum advantage. The initial goal is to employ Cambridge Quantum Computing’s leading quantum chemistry platform EUMEN to augment the Alzheimer’s disease research efforts at Roche. It is one of the most substantive research efforts in the field of quantum computing to date, and strives to enable the development of next-generation, quantum-inspired therapeutics.
Ilyas Khan, CEO of Cambridge Quantum Computing, said: “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. 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.
“We are excited to collaborate with Roche and their quantum computing task force. It is a true privilege to collaborate in pursuit of quantum advantage.”
Cambridge Quantum Computing was founded in 2014 and has become a global leader in quantum software and quantum algorithms with offices in the UK, US and Japan.
Roche has prepared a task force to integrate quantum computing into its R&D via Roche’s pRED – Pharma Research and Early Development – initiative.
The pRED task force is pursuing both a business and academic track, and is run by Mariëlle van de Pol, who says: “We are scanning the horizon, waiting for the big wave, but we don’t know how big it is going to be, or when it will come. But if you see how much tech companies are investing in this topic, and how quickly the whole landscape is evolving, you realise that it will come and it will be a game-changer.”
Martin Strahm, head of data science in pRED, said: “I do not think that quantum computing will solve all the world’s problems. But what is really fascinating is that even quite a small quantum computer can do calculations that would take the lifetime of the universe on a conventional computer. What you can calculate is really unthinkable. But will it really help humanity? That depends on us.”
Quantum computing is expected to take another five years before it acquires significant traction – many suggest 10 years – though an operating system is being developed. Qubits – the basic unit of quantum information – remain highly unstable and susceptible to external influences: Roche will need far higher numbers of qubits to achieve meaningful impact.
Andreas Maunz, scientific application developer at pRED Informatics, sums up the situation as follows: “We’re really waiting for the physical implementation. The theory is there, but the machine still has to be built.”
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