Why new medicines take so long | Alex Epstein | TEDxBoston Salon

AI could accelerate the discovery of new medicines, but how quickly will those discoveries reach patients? Drawing on his grandfather’s experience with Parkinson’s disease, Alex Epstein explores the growing gap between scientific progress and clinical development. He argues that reliable biomarkers and better trial design could help researchers evaluate treatments sooner. His call for collaboration challenges scientists, companies and regulators to bring greater urgency to the medicines patients are waiting for. Alex Epstein, PhD, is a senior computational scientist at Cellular Intelligence and head of research at Second Century Foundation. He earned his doctorate at Rockefeller University, where he used single cell genomics to investigate brain aging and caloric restriction. His work brings together experimental biology, computational methods and regenerative medicine to advance treatments for diseases associated with aging. This talk was given at a TEDx event using the TED conference format but independently organized by a local community. Learn more at https://www.ted.com/tedx