Danish pharmaceutical heavyweight Novo Nordisk announced on Wednesday that it will collaborate with US-based artificial intelligence firm Anthropic, leveraging the latter's science-focused platform, Claude Science, to speed up drug discovery and development while also bolstering its internal software creation. This move marks the latest instance of major pharmaceutical companies aggressively investing in AI capabilities.
The company stated it will evaluate Claude Science to tackle complex scientific challenges and plans to deploy Anthropic's models to enhance its AI-driven software development. Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doustdar highlighted that AI has the potential to boost R&D productivity, shorten the journey from research to market, and, more critically, unlock entirely new scientific avenues to reason through human biology and drug mechanisms.
Several other large drugmakers, including Eli Lilly, Merck, and Roche, have similarly partnered with AI enterprises, betting that these technologies can yield faster drug production. Despite the substantial investments, these wagers have yet to fully deliver. Some AI-identified drug candidates are currently in human trials, but no AI-discovered drug has received approval thus far. Industry officials note that the most immediate value from AI lies in automating routine tasks, such as synthesizing research, analyzing vast datasets, and designing human studies.
According to pharmaceutical executives, AI serves dual purposes: boosting sales, accelerating timelines, and finding more patients, as well as improving efficiency to accomplish more with fewer resources. It is also being used to identify patients eligible for clinical trials. Bill Coyle, head of ZS's Europe operations, noted that AI is especially valuable in detecting rare disease patients with genetic drivers by scanning electronic health records at scale, creating algorithms from known diagnoses and claims data.
Novo Nordisk has already established several alliances focused on using AI to accelerate drug research. Earlier this year, it revealed plans to work with ChatGPT developer OpenAI and set up an AI innovation hub with AWS. As part of the new agreement with Anthropic, Novo Nordisk will test Claude Science and intends to strengthen its AI-driven software development using Anthropic models.
Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei expressed optimism, stating: "We can shorten research times, improve outcomes, and uncover drugs and therapies that significantly enhance human life. This is exactly what we aim to achieve with Novo Nordisk." A spokesperson for the Danish company declined to provide specific deal terms or details on the drug discovery projects that may be targeted.