Novo Nordisk Partners with Anthropic to Advance AI-Driven Drug Discovery

Novo will also use Anthropic's models to strengthen AI-driven software development across the company.

Global pharma company Novo Nordisk has partnered with Anthropic to leverage the AI giant's Claude models to scale up discovery and development of new medicines.

Under the partnership, both companies will work together on drug discovery obstacles identified by Novo's scientists and computational teams, building out purpose-built solutions for particular scientific workflows while also supporting biological reasoning.

In the initial phase, the global drug maker will test Anthropic models and Claude Science in its research and development workflows.

The companies will focus on scientific problems where they expect the combined capabilities of AI models and Novo Nordisk’s scientific expertise to provide the greatest impact.

Beyond drug discovery, Novo will also use Anthropic's models to strengthen AI-driven software development across the company.

Commenting on the partnership, Mike Doustdar, president and CEO of Novo Nordisk, said, "This partnership is another testament to our ambition to become the world’s most AI-driven healthcare company, building on Novo’s current AI initiatives with other technology partners. "Joining forces with Anthropic will supercharge our R&D organization and help us on our mission to bring new, transformative health solutions to people living with chronic diseases.”

The collaboration will include data-governance controls and human oversight intended to ensure the technology is used in accordance with the company’s ethical and compliance standards.

The partnership follows a series of AI collaborations Novo has pursued.

Earlier this year, the Danish drugmaker struck a deal with OpenAI for AI-driven drug discovery, while in August it established an AI innovation hub in London with Amazon Web Services focused on accelerating drug discovery.

Speaking on the partnership, Anthropic co-founder and CEO Dario Amodei said, "AI’s increasing capability brings with it the potential to compress a century’s worth of biological and medical breakthroughs into a decade. By giving leading researchers access to safe, capable, and trusted frontier models, we can shorten research timelines, improve outcomes, and discover medicines and treatments that significantly improve human life."

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