AI-guided discovery
Identify mechanistic pathways, potential biological targets, and therapies that could be repurposed for dengue to prevent disease progression
current phase of drug development
updated 4 Mar 2025
DNDi and BenevolentAI initiated a joint research collaboration in 2022 to deliver a list of potential biological targets (proteins that can be targeted by a potential drug) and drug repurposing candidates that could be effective in preventing progression to severe dengue.
Project updates
2024
Studies to determine the protective effects on vascular integrity confirmed that selected compounds acting through the sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor provided protective effects on membrane integrity. This effect was confirmed in in vivo dengue infection models. Additional studies are underway to understand this mode of action for potential use in people with dengue virus infection.
2023
AI-based investigations showed a number of mechanistic pathways that were selected for experimental validation. DNDi teams are focusing their efforts on the study of compounds suggesting positive effects on the maintenance of vascular integrity in dengue infection models.
2022
The collaboration uses BenevolentAI’s AI tools and biomedical knowledge graph, which is built from diverse and independent data sources, such as scientific literature, patents, genetics, chemistry, clinical trial data, and more. Scientists from DNDi and BenevolentAI began using this artificial intelligence-driven approach to interrogate the underlying mechanisms involved in dengue and rapidly identify therapies that could be repurposed to prevent progression to severe dengue.
The most promising drug candidates identified in the joint research will later be tested in preclinical models and potentially in clinical trials conducted in collaboration with dengue-endemic country partners.
News & resources
- 7 June 2022 – Quand l’intelligence artificielle sert à fabriquer des médicaments, AFP
- 6 June 2022 – La inteligencia artificial se vuelve una herramienta para fabricar medicamentos, France 24
- 28 April 2022 – Dengue threat to be tackled using AI-powered drug discovery as BenevolentAI teams up with DNDi, Cambridge Independent
- 26 April 2022 – AI tools to predict hospital stays are hampered by a string of shortcomings, STAT
- 21 April 2022 – BenevolentAI, DNDi begin joint AI research project on dengue, Pharmaceutical Business
- 20 April 2022 – DNDi and BenevolentAI collaborate to accelerate life-saving drug discovery research in dengue
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