By Mackenzie Tatananni

International Business Machines said Thursday that it had joined forces with Moderna for a case study that evidenced quantum computing's promise in medicine.

While Moderna isn't looking to replace classical computing with quantum entirely, the company is interested in building a "quantum-enabled biotechnology pipeline." In conjunction with IBM, the pharmaceutical giant sought to explore how algorithms could help create mRNA-based medicines.

If that terminology rings a bell, it's because that same mRNA approach is central to Moderna's Covid-19 vaccine. Messenger RNA, as it's known in full, is a molecule that contains instructions that direct cells to make a protein.

But there's a catch. An astronomically large number of mRNA sequences could encode any given protein, which makes it difficult to develop treatments.

That's where quantum computing comes in. The case study, published Thursday, centered around so-called variational quantum algorithms, or VQAs, which are specialized for chemistry, simulations and optimization problems.

Researchers used Conditional Value at Risk, a risk-assessment technique borrowed from finance, to improve the performance of VQAs. The partners ultimately achieved a record in the scale of mRNA structure problems that quantum systems are able to solve.

"Quantum computing is an entirely new branch of computation that operates by the laws of quantum mechanics," Sarah Sheldon, senior manager of applied quantum science at IBM, told Barron's. "It opens up a richer mathematical space that quantum algorithms can leverage."

The results of the latest study show an improvement over 2024, when IBM and Moderna first developed an approach to accelerate the creation of mRNA-based medicines.

Experiments like these give credence to claims that quantum computing could disrupt industries, including pharma. Streamlining the design of new medicines could cut down the time and cost to bring them to market, Sheldon explained.

Analysts with Bank of America Securities noted on Wednesday that quantum systems, when fully realized, have the potential to "change everything," from creating new drugs to enhancing encryption and logistics.

"Theoretically, there is no calculation a quantum computer cannot do," BofA wrote. The keyword is "theoretically." While there have been instances of quantum systems outperforming classical computers at certain tasks, "we are yet to see quantum advantage because quantum computers are currently too error prone," the firm wrote.

IBM noted that VQAs may deliver quantum advantage before scientists perfect error correction -- often seen as the final hurdle to clear before quantum can be adopted on wider scale.

The storied tech giant is already chipping away at this problem. The latest study used IBM's Heron r2 quantum processor, which boasts lower error rates than previous iterations of the technology.

The company has its sights trained on bigger goals. Last month, IBM shared a roadmap for the world's first "large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum supercomputer," which it aims to roll out by 2029.

BofA noted that current estimates for quantum advantage range from 2030 to 2033. However, it's never too late to begin to prepare for the day quantum finally breaks out.

"Our goal is to improve human health," Alexey Galda, associate scientific director of quantum algorithms and applications at Moderna, said in a statement. "We believe it's critical to explore every available tool -- including quantum computing -- to scale our progress today, rather than wait for the technology to fully mature in the future."

Write to Mackenzie Tatananni at mackenzie.tatananni@barrons.com

This content was created by Barron's, which is operated by Dow Jones & Co. Barron's is published independently from Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal.

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July 17, 2025 06:00 ET (10:00 GMT)

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