UVA scientists create AI tool to repurpose drugs and prevent heart failure

UVA’s new AI tool LogiRx helps repurpose drugs to prevent heart failure

University of Virginia School of Medicine researchers have developed a groundbreaking artificial intelligence (AI) tool called LogiRx that promises to accelerate drug discovery and repurposing by revealing how drugs work at a cellular level.

This innovative system goes beyond traditional AI pattern recognition by providing mechanistic insights into drug action, opening new possibilities for treating diseases such as heart failure.

AI moves beyond pattern detection

Unlike most current AI tools in medicine that identify statistical correlations, LogiRx integrates biomedical knowledge to understand how drugs interact with biological systems.

“AI needs to move from detecting patterns to generating understanding,” said Dr. Jeffrey J. Saucerman, professor at UVA’s Department of Biomedical Engineering. “Our LogiRx tool helps us identify not just which drugs can be repurposed for heart disease but how they work in the heart.”

A breakthrough for heart failure treatment

Heart failure is responsible for over 400,000 deaths annually in the United States. One key contributor is cardiac hypertrophy, a condition where heart muscle cells grow excessively, reducing the organ’s ability to pump blood.

Using LogiRx, researchers evaluated 62 previously identified drug candidates to see which could reduce this harmful cellular growth. The tool predicted beneficial off-target effects in seven of these drugs, and two were confirmed in laboratory settings.

One surprising result was escitalopram (Lexapro)—a common antidepressant. Patients taking this drug were significantly less likely to develop cardiac hypertrophy, suggesting a powerful new application for an existing medication.

Why LogiRx matters

Taylor Eggertsen, the PhD student leading the research, explained: “LogiRx identifies unexpected new uses for old drugs that are already shown to be safe in humans. It helps researchers target new patient populations or avoid harmful side effects.”

The team validated LogiRx’s predictions through both cell-level experiments and real-world patient data, ensuring the tool’s accuracy and credibility.

Toward the future of precision medicine

While more lab research and clinical trials are needed before escitalopram can be prescribed for heart failure, this innovation represents a major leap toward precision drug repurposing using AI.

“AI is accelerating many aspects of drug development,” Saucerman said. “But it hasn’t fully explained how drugs work in the body. LogiRx changes that by combining artificial intelligence with existing biomedical knowledge.”

The research findings were published in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (PNAS) and included contributions from Eggertsen, Saucerman, Joshua G. Travers, Elizabeth J. Hardy, Matthew J. Wolf, and Timothy A. McKinsey. The scientists have declared no financial interest in the findings.

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