Tag Archives: Quantum

POLARISqb Named One of Seven Pharma Startups to Watch in 2021 by Startus Insights

StartUs Insights, a leading research and consulting group focused on the global startup market, has named POLARISqb one of their "7 Pharma Startups You Should Watch in 2021." StartUs Insights, which works with major international corporations such as Nestle, Lufthansa, and Pharmapack, researches the most promising startup companies from across a wide variety of industries including pharmaceuticals, transportation, healthcare, and logistics

2020 has brought significant challenges in the pharmaceutical sector, and StartUs Insights recognized POLARISqb along with companies that develop novel treatment such as ANA Therapeutics and MRM Health and companies working to develop vaccines and testing such as Ancora.AI and Pulmobiotics. In describing the company, StartUs cited our work that, "combines quantum computing and AI to search through large and unstructured medical datasets,"  as well as recognizing the ability of our software to filter for drug toxicity and other ADMET characteristics of various potential treatment molecules. As we continue to develop our platform to utilize the most advanced quantum computing resources available, our ability to use this technology to target specific proteins and diseases is making the drug discovery process more efficient and accurate.

We are glad to be recognized by StartUs Insights as a leader in the world of quantum drug discovery, as we proceed in our development of tools that will revolutionize the costs and timeframe associated with the development of new drugs and treatments. These technologies will provide greater opportunity for us to achieve the goal set forth in our company motto, to create drug blueprints to treat and cure all diseases for all people.

POLARISqb Cited as Innovator by The Quantum Daily’s 2020 Survey

The Quantum Daily, a website that is dedicated solely to the coverage of the news and developments in the world of quantum computing, has recently completed its Quantum Technologies Survey. The data from this survey came in the form of responses from 35 leaders in the world of quantum, and covered topics including, "key quantum computing milestones, use cases, and investment in the space."

In terms of technical milestones that will have the most impact on the world of quantum computing, over 50% of respondents thought that one of two types of vanguard technology would have the greatest impact on the field, with 31% citing superconducting, and over 20% identifying trapped ion computing. But computing power alone does not hold the promise for utilizing quantum to solve the world's toughest problems, it takes applications to transform that power into results.

In discussing how quantum will be used to create real world solutions, The Quantum Daily reports that they, "consistently voted Chemistry and Pharma applications - where problems are quantum mechanical by nature - as the most likely to benefit from early stage practical quantum computers."  In this regard, the survey found that POLARISqb was one of the companies most often cited as having an impact in this space.  Building upon our use of annealing technology  to identify potential treatment molecules for Dengue fever, we have continued to research new ways to apply our suite of software across quantum platforms, opening up new pathways for drug discovery and accelerating the process by over 75%.  By revolutionizing the way protein analysis and computational chemistry can take place in a quantum environment, we create the potential for developing cures and treatments for a wide variety of ailments on a much faster timeline.

One area where the survey detailed a fairly uncharted path was for the future of funding for the quantum sector. While there was positive trend with 40% of respondents seeing increased government investment being offered to companies within the sector, investments that will undoubtedly result in further advancement of both technological development and a wider array of quantum applications in the future, private investment was seen as lagging behind by respondents, with only 20% saying that they see funding for quantum applications coming from venture capital firms. The sector overall was seen by over 60% of respondents of having valuations that are accurate to their potential, but the same percentage reporting that they believe there is currently not enough net investment in quantum computing and applications.

Though 2020 has offered challenges in various ways, the burgeoning growth in the quantum field has only accelerated during this period. We are honored to be recognized as an innovator in the field of quantum drug discovery and the use of quantum technologies for computational chemistry, and it is our hope that through our applications and projects we are able to reach the lofty goals of our company, to cure all disease, for all people.

D-Wave Takes Giant Leap in Computing with Advantage

Everyone in computing is familiar with the idea of Moore's Law, that computing power doubles every two years, but quantum computing could be making that premise a bit of an anachronism. Recently growth in the field of quantum computing has been accelerating at a rate that makes this seem like an antiquated adage of a simpler time.

This is especially evident in the news this week that D-Wave systems have released the first quantum computer designed to be used in commercial applications, The Advantage. The Advantage features 5000 connected qubits, a number that Frederic Lardinois from TechCrunch notes is over 2.5 times as large as their previous offering of 2000 connected qubits. This larger hardware is able to interconnect 15 interconnections simultaneously versus utilizing 6 interconnections in previous iterations.

These changes create a massive explosion in the computing power offered by the Advantage computer, giving it the ability to handle up to 1 million independent variables. Using their advanced Pegasus chip to link qubits, the computer is able to natively solve problems with between 600-800 variables, providing for a wide variety of commercial applications. As D-Wave CEO Alan Baratz told Emil Protalinski of Venture Beat, "There is no other quantum computer anywhere in the world that can solve problems at the scale and complexity that this quantum computer can solve problems. It really is the only one that you can run real business applications on. The other quantum computers are primarily prototypes. You can do experimentation, run small proofs of concept, but none of them can support applications at the scale that we can.

Putting computing power like this in the hands of innovators, researchers, and companies that are seeking to solve previously unsolvable problems is tremendously empowering. POLARISqb will have the ability to utilize platforms like the Advantage to power chemical and molecular searches on a scale that was previously unfathomable in the industry, optimizing the pace of drug discovery in ways never seen in the biotech and pharmaceutical industries. With the pace of innovation in the world of quantum expected to continue and accelerate, it is our goal to make molecular analysis and protein targeting faster than ever before, developing the ability to provide treatments and cures for all diseases and all people.

Quantum Tech for Healthcare (August 2020)

Our CEO, Dr. Shahar Kienan was recently a member of a panel on Quantum Tech for Healthcare hosted by Dave Snelling of Fujitsu Global. The session featured presentations by Dr. Frederik Flother from IBM, Hans Melo of menten.ai, and Nihil Khaine of ApexBit on how quantum technology is being utilized in the healthcare field.

We are applying quantum computing to the world of drug discovery, accelerating the process by utilizing heuristic computing such as annealing to identify potential treatment molecules for a wide variety of diseases and ailments.