Cancer is advancing at an alarming rate and is emerging as the main cause of death in Europe by 2035. In Spain alone, diagnoses will reach 301,884 cases this year – 2% more than in 2025 – and will exceed 300,000 for the first time, with 8,000 young people between 20 and 39 years old affected, according to the Spanish Society of Medical Oncology (SEOM) and the Spanish Network of Cancer Registries (Redecan). Faced with this health problem, Telefónica, Vithas Foundation and the Francisco de Vitoria University (UFV) have launched a pioneering project that applies quantum computing and artificial intelligence to accelerate the design of new drugs against highly aggressive tumor mutations.
The objective of the initiative is combat the BRAF V600E mutationa protein alteration that drives the uncontrolled growth of cancer cells, through the generation of molecules capable of inhibiting their action. To achieve this, they have developed a hybrid model that combines conventional artificial intelligence with the properties of quantum physics, increasing the precision in the identification of drug candidates compared to traditional methods.
“This project represents a technological milestone and a relevant advance for expedite the development of critical treatments in oncology and for other complex diseases“explains Telefónica.
The work is coordinated from the Javier Echenique Talent and Technology Center, located in Bilbao, a strategic space promoted by Telefónica to place Spain at the European forefront of applied quantum technologies.
Reduce time and increase the probability of success
Drug discovery using classical experimental methods involves long research periods and high discard rates. Only a minimal part of the candidate molecules manages to overcome the first phases of development.
In this project, a classical neural network of the LSTM (Long Short-Term Memory) type acts as molecular “architect”, generating chemical structures that are optimized using a QCBM (Quantum Circuit Born Machine) quantum circuit. This symbiosis makes it possible to produce a list of high-quality candidate molecules and evaluate them with advanced chemical filters, significantly reducing research times.
The Work carried out so far has obtained “very promising” preliminary results. in which the molecules obtained improve practically all the parameters involved in the evaluation of the therapeutic potential of a drug.
Towards more efficient and precise medicine
The pilot integrates the technological and connectivity capacity of Telefónica, the clinical experience of the Vithas hospital group and the knowledge in molecular biology of the Francisco de Vitoria University. The collaboration aims to position Spain as a European benchmark in the practical application of quantum technologies in oncology.
Juan Cambeiro, head of Applied Quantum Projects at Telefónica Spain, emphasizes that Quantum computing “has ceased to be a theory and has become a tool with real possibilities in sectors such as health, industry, logistics or banking”. Furthermore, he asserts that the hybridization between traditional machine learning and quantum circuits not only reduces research times, but also opens the door to “more efficient and accessible” medicine.
For his part, Ángel Ayuso, corporate scientific director of Vithas and director of the Vithas Foundation, highlights that the incorporation of quantum computing to the work of the Brain Tumor Laboratory—focused on adult and pediatric gliomas—represents a “differential leap” in the selection of structures with a greater probability of success, accelerating the preclinical development of more precise and effective treatments.
Jorge Plazas, professor at the UFV Higher Polytechnic School, adds that quantum computing represents a paradigm shift in information processing and that, in its current stage, already offers tangible advantages in specific domains, such as the design of therapeutic molecules.