Xanadu and University of Alberta Explore Quantum Computing for Cancer Drug Discovery

Insider Brief

• Xanadu Quantum Technologies and the University of Alberta have formed a research partnership to explore quantum algorithms for designing photosensitizers used in photodynamic cancer therapy.
• The collaboration will combine Xanadu’s quantum algorithm expertise with Professor Alex Brown’s research in computational modeling of photosensitizer systems.
• The research aims to investigate whether quantum computing can help model light-matter interactions involved in developing new cancer treatment compounds.

Press release – Xanadu Quantum Technologies Limited (“Xanadu”; NASDAQ/TSX: XNDU), a leading photonic quantum computing company, and the University of Alberta, have announced a strategic research partnership to pioneer novel quantum algorithms for cancer treatment. This partnership, led by the Xanadu algorithms team and Professor Alex Brown from the University of Alberta, aims to develop a quantum computing framework that can accelerate the design of next-generation photosensitizers used in photodynamic therapy, a powerful, non-invasive therapeutic cancer treatment.

Photodynamic cancer therapy uses light-activated compounds, called photosensitizers, to selectively destroy tumor cells, while avoiding the side effects of traditional cancer treatments, such as chemotherapy. However, discovering new and more effective photosensitizers can be difficult, as it requires either slow and costly experiments or classical simulations that don’t take into account crucial interactions determining their effectiveness.

Xanadu has recently released results pioneering the use of quantum computers to simulate important light-matter interactions in photosensitizers, which are critical for determining key properties that are difficult to predict using classical computational approaches. These include their sensitivity to specific wavelengths and their efficiency in triggering cancer cell death. Professor Brown has published highly influential work on benchmarking computational simulations of photosensitizer systems. By combining their expertise, Xanadu and Professor Brown aim to further explore how quantum computing can overcome classical computational challenges in photodynamic drug discovery.

“Current methodologies for developing effective photosensitizers are hampered by a variety of hurdles. By leveraging early fault-tolerant quantum computers to model critical light-matter interactions within photosensitizers, we are positioning quantum computing as a highly competitive method for accelerating photodynamic drug discovery,” said Dr. Christian Weedbrook, Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Xanadu.

“Photosensitizers are challenging systems because their performance depends on excited-state processes that are difficult to capture accurately with standard computational methods. By combining Xanadu’s quantum algorithm expertise with our experience in modeling photodynamic therapy systems, we’re excited to explore how fault-tolerant quantum computing could provide new tools for understanding and designing more effective light-activated cancer treatments,” said Professor Alex Brown, Professor and Chair of the Department of Chemistry, University of Alberta.

This partnership aims to strengthen Xanadu’s quantum-based workflow for drug design, expanding the framework to tackle increasingly sophisticated challenges in photosensitizer development. Professor Brown’s contributions will be vital in identifying important mechanisms that determine therapeutic effectiveness. Together, Xanadu and University of Alberta will use quantum computing to push the boundaries of drug development and simulations for use in the pharmaceutical industry.