Quantum Breakthrough Could Speed Up Drug Development by Years

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen’s Quantum for Life Centre have made a breakthrough in developing a recipe to upgrade quantum computers, bringing us closer to predicting how new drugs will behave in our bodies and potentially revolutionizing pharmaceutical development. This innovation could accelerate the drug development process from years to months, saving hundreds of millions to billions of euros.

Currently, developing a new drug takes over a decade due to the complexity of simulating molecular behavior. Traditional computers are incapable of handling the vast amount of information required with precision. Quantum computers, however, can mimic atomic behavior, but they are limited by their small size, only able to simulate a few atoms.

The research team, led by Professor Matthias Christandl and including doctoral student Dylan Harley, has developed a mathematical recipe to program quantum simulators more efficiently, extracting more computing power from existing hardware. This breakthrough could enable the simulation of complex molecules with millions of atoms, paving the way for predicting drug behavior before laboratory trials. The next step is to test this recipe on quantum hardware, which could fundamentally change the way we develop and test pharmaceuticals.

Accelerating Drug Development with Quantum Simulators

Researchers at the University of Copenhagen have made a significant breakthrough in developing a recipe to upgrade quantum computers to simulate complex quantum systems, such as molecules. This discovery brings us closer to predicting how new drugs will behave within our bodies and has the potential to revolutionize pharmaceutical development.

Developing a new drug is a time-consuming and costly process that can take over a decade and cost hundreds of millions to billions of euros. However, what if we could predict how a drug would work in the body before conducting laboratory trials? This could speed up the entire process from years to months. The key to achieving this lies in simulating the behavior of molecules, which are composed of atoms that behave according to quantum mechanics.

The Challenge of Size

One fundamental problem that all quantum computer researchers struggle with is size. Today’s quantum computers are simply too small, limiting their ability to simulate complex molecules found in medicinal drugs. These molecules often contain millions of atoms, making it challenging for current quantum computers to accurately model their behavior.

The Quantum for Life team has taken a significant step towards solving this problem by developing a mathematical recipe for programming quantum simulators more efficiently. This breakthrough enables the extraction of more computing power from a simulator of the same size, allowing researchers to tackle more complex tasks.

The Role of Quantum Software

“Quantum simulators consist not only of quantum hardware but also of quantum software – essentially, the recipe for using the quantum simulator,” explains Dylan Harley, the research paper’s first author and a doctoral student at the Quantum for Life Centre. The new quantum algorithm addresses the obstacle of scaling up a quantum simulator by introducing a controlled amount of noise among the particles being simulated. This ensures that the simulation does not stall but carries on as desired.

The idea is of a general nature and can be applied to any type of quantum hardware, regardless of whether it is based on atoms, ions, or even artificial atoms like superconducting qubits. This breakthrough has significant implications for the development of more effective quantum simulators.

Revolutionizing Pharmaceutical Development

“Quantum technology is seen as the key to creating the new and improved medicines of the future,” says Matthias Christandl, professor of quantum theory and centre leader at the Quantum for Life Centre. “But without the ability to scale quantum simulators effectively, their practical use is very limited.” The prospects are revolutionary if researchers succeed in developing an effective quantum simulator.

“If we can use a computer to simulate how a new drug will behave in a human body before conducting any experiments, it could fundamentally change the way we develop and test pharmaceuticals, which will significantly accelerate the amount of time from lab to patient,” Christandl explains.

The Next Steps

The next step for the researchers is to test the mathematical recipe on quantum hardware. This will involve building a so-called quantum simulator, a type of computer that contains a controlled system of particles that can accurately mimic various quantum systems, including molecules and atoms.

The Quantum for Life Centre at the University of Copenhagen is working towards this goal by combining research in quantum physics, mathematics, chemistry, and computer science. The centre is funded by the Novo Nordisk Foundation and aims to develop quantum algorithms for simulating biomolecules that can be used to study complex biochemical processes and contribute to accelerating pharmaceutical development.

The researchers behind the study are Dylan Harley, Frederik Ravn Klausen, Albert H. Werner, and Matthias Christandl from the Quantum for Life Centre, Department of Mathematical Sciences at the University of Copenhagen; Ishaun Datta from Stanford University; Andreas Bluhm from Université Grenoble Alpes, France; and Daniel Stilck França from Université de Lyon, France. The scientific article about the study has been published in the journal Nature Communications.