Gina Cody School researcher looks to transform drug-related inquiries with AI-driven chatbots

When pharmacists, physicians or patients have questions about specific medications, it would be great if they could get accurate answers immediately. This is what intent-based chatbots aim to achieve — they understand the specific questions health-care professionals and patients are asking and provide the right information quickly.

Concordia University, in collaboration with the University of Calgary and Sandoz Canada, has secured a $210,000 Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada (NSERC) Alliance grant to develop specialized chatbots and large language models (LLMs) for answering drug-related questions. This two-year project is one step toward transforming how pharmaceutical companies handle complex and resource-intensive inquiries from health-care professionals and patients about their products.

The project is co-led by Emad Shihab, a professor and associate dean in the Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering at Concordia’s Gina Cody School of Engineering and Computer Science, and Ahmad Abdellatif from the University of Calgary. Their expertise in software engineering and applied artificial intelligence (AI), coupled with Sandoz’s pharmaceutical knowledge, will drive the development of new AI tools.

Sandoz Canada’s medical affairs team initiated this project to improve response time for medical information requests. Ali Zaraket, pharmacist and medical information manager at the company, will be providing medical and regulatory expertise to develop an AI-driven medical chatbot experience.

“Providing quality information services on our products to health-care professionals and patients is a priority for us,” says Nahal Nasseri, pharmacist and head of medical affairs at Sandoz Canada.

‘Out-of-the-box chatbots often fall short’

The successful implementation of these chatbots would enhance the efficiency and accuracy of drug-related inquiries, benefiting pharmaceutical companies, health-care professionals and patients.

“I anticipate improved inquiry turnaround times, increased efficiency and higher satisfaction rates among health-care professionals,” Shihab explains.

“Out-of-the-box chatbots often fall short in providing comprehensive and accurate responses to intricate drug-related questions. This research initiative aims to address these challenges by developing highly accurate, intent-based chatbots and LLMs.”

“As access pioneers, we are committed to innovation and leveraging AI technology to provide patients and health-care professionals with the best pharmaceutical support,” says Michel Robidoux, Sandoz Canada president and general manager. “We are pleased to collaborate with Concordia on this wonderful initiative.”

Headquartered in Boucherville, Quebec, Sandoz Group AG is a global leader in generic pharmaceuticals and biosimilars, with a portfolio that includes more than 700 products across various therapeutic areas. Each year, 55 million prescriptions are filled with Sandoz products.

Find out more about Concordia’s Department of Computer Science and Software Engineering.