Roche to Partner with Cambridge Quantum Computing for Drug Discovery

(Fortune.com) Swiss pharmaceutical firm Roche is partnering with a U.K. company to use quantum computing techniques to find new treatments for diseases, including Alzheimer’s.
Cambridge Quantum Computing, a company in Cambridge, England that helps businesses use specialized algorithms designed to run on a quantum computer, said Roche will begin using a software platform it has built that helps simulate quantum-level chemical interactions to research possible Alzheimer treatments, and eventually, potential drugs for other diseases too.
“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,” Ilyas Khan, Cambridge Quantum Computing’s chief executive, said. “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.”
Roche has had a small team monitoring recent advances in quantum computing and working on simple proof of concept projects. It has previously worked with a group of graduate students from the University of Oxford on molecular simulations, similar to the ones it will now be doing in partnership with Cambridge Quantum Computing. It has also explored partnership with the technology companies that have built working quantum computers and allow businesses to perform calculations on them through cloud computing networks.