As fentanyl-related overdoses claim more than 70,000 American lives each year, US regulators have struggled to keep pace with the synthetic opioids.
Advertisement
But across the Pacific, Chinese scientists have now developed AI-powered technology capable of identifying a quadrillion potential fentanyl compounds – an achievement that could redefine global drug control negotiations.
A study from scientists at the Chengdu Institute of Biology, set to be published in the April issue of the Journal of Hazardous Materials, uses machine learning and water-sample analysis to map the molecular “Lego blocks” of fentanyl derivatives, enabling China to systematically monitor – and pre-emptively outlaw – entire classes of these lethal substances.
With Beijing already enforcing a zero-tolerance policy, including the death sentence for traffickers, this innovation raises a question: can US prohibition efforts ever outpace a threat that is multiplying at a scale of 1,000,000,000,000,000?
Drugs such as heroin or cocaine have fixed formulas, but fentanyl is sneakier. Drug makers can tweak just one tiny part of its chemical structure – like swapping a single Lego piece – to create new, even deadlier versions.
Advertisement
More than 100 of these modified fentanyl varieties have already flooded global drug markets.
To fight this, the Chinese researchers developed a hi-tech tool to predict and track these ever-changing drugs.