Anthropic Partners with Six Life Sciences Organizations to Advance Drug Development with Claude

Early results include faster regulatory reviews and promising preclinical findings, with work spanning multiple stages of drug development, from identifying potential drug targets to preparing clinical trial documentation.

Anthropic has expanded its work in drug development through partnerships with six life sciences organisations and its own drug discovery programmes, using its Claude AI models to support research, molecule design and clinical trial planning.

Early results include faster regulatory reviews and promising preclinical findings, although the drug candidates have yet to demonstrate safety and efficacy in human trials.

Anthropic said its work spans multiple stages of drug development, from identifying potential drug targets and designing molecules to improving manufacturing processes and preparing clinical trial documentation.

Anthropic has partnered with six organizations developing new medicines: Enveda, Generate Biomedicines, Divergence Labs, BigHat Biosciences, Bristol Myers Squibb, and The Column Group to evaluate Claude in real-world drug development programmes.

1. Enveda

At Enveda, Claude reviewed 1,061 pages of manufacturing documentation, identifying all 11 issues previously detected by human reviewers and flagging seven additional issues.

The approach reduced human review time by 89%, from more than 25 hours to under three hours. Claude also prepared initial drafts of two regulatory documents, with one completed in four hours compared with approximately three months through the conventional process.

In drug design, Claude has supported efforts to improve potential treatments for cancer and food allergies.

2. Generate Biomedicines

Generate Biomedicines used Claude Code to develop shorter genetic instructions for CAR T-cell therapy, with one design approximately 70% shorter than the standard version.

Laboratory testing showed that the design enabled immune cells to produce roughly 10 times as many receptors and improved their ability to kill tumour cells.

3. Divergence Labs

Divergence Labs used Claude to generate approximately 35,000 antibody designs in about a month for a potential food allergy treatment.

Early testing identified designs that could bind to or dislodge immunoglobulin E, a molecule involved in allergic reactions. The company is working towards combining these functions into a potential drug.

4. BigHat Biosciences

BigHat Biosciences used Claude alongside its automated laboratory systems to optimise two antibody fragments.

Testing of approximately 1,010 variants over 10 weeks found improvements in target binding, stability, and resistance to clumping.

5. Bristol Myers Squibb

Anthropic has also begun working with Bristol Myers Squibb to assess early-stage clinical trial plans and estimate their likelihood of success. The collaboration is expected to expand in 2027.

6. The Column Group

The Column Group is exploring how Claude could change the way biotechnology companies pursue drug discovery. Working with Anthropic, TCG is establishing Pleiades, a new company designed to use Claude to manage more drug development programmes, including complex projects that would typically require larger teams.

Its initial Claude tool, which helps assess whether drug targets warrant further investigation, has been evaluated across 45 target-disease pairs. The initiative aims to reduce scientific, operational and administrative costs, potentially enabling investment in more ambitious research programmes.

Separately, Anthropic has acquired Mithril Medicine, a one-person biotechnology company developing treatments for two rare forms of muscular dystrophy.

Its founder, Cody Tranbarger, used Claude to coordinate work across 11 external laboratories and advance a potential treatment from an initial idea to promising results in mice in less than 18 months.

Anthropic said human clinical trials could begin as early as late 2028 if the findings hold up.

Despite these developments, Anthropic has acknowledged that its research remains at an early stage and is largely preclinical.

The company is also expanding access to Claude for scientific research through Claude Science, an AI workbench for researchers, and a Life Sciences Verification Program designed to support trusted organisations conducting biological research.

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