Danish pharmaceutical company Novo is partnering with AI company Anthropic to expand the use of artificial intelligence in drug discovery and development. The collaboration will bring Anthropic’s Claude models into research and development (R&D), while also using AI to support software engineering across the company.
Initially, the two companies will focus on scientific challenges identified by Novo researchers and computational teams. They plan to develop targeted AI solutions for specific research workflows, including tools that can support biological reasoning and potentially accelerate the discovery and development of new medicines.
Novo will test Claude Science in selected R&D workflows and scientific problems where the companies believe AI could have the greatest impact. The pharmaceutical company expects the technology to support researchers in analysing complex scientific questions and understanding human biology and drug mechanisms.
AI to support scientific research
Novo CEO Mike Doustdar said AI could increase productivity within R&D and shorten the path between research and a marketed medicine. Beyond efficiency gains, the company sees opportunities for AI to support new forms of scientific reasoning. Anthropic CEO and co-founder Dario Amodei said increasingly capable AI models could shorten research timelines and contribute to the discovery of new medicines and treatments. How much these tools can improve drug development in practice will require further evaluation.
Novo also plans to use Anthropic’s AI models for software development, which the company considers an important part of scaling AI across its organisation. According to the companies, the collaboration includes data governance measures and human oversight intended to ensure that the technology is used in line with Novo’s ethical and compliance standards.
Growing role for AI in pharma
The Anthropic partnership is part of Novo’s broader effort to integrate AI into pharmaceutical research. Earlier this year, the company also reached an agreement with OpenAI to use GPT-Rosalind, a scientific AI model designed to analyse complex datasets and help identify potential drug candidates. AI infrastructure is another area of investment. In 2024, the Novo Nordisk Foundation partnered with Nvidia and the Export and Investment Fund of Denmark to establish the Danish Centre for AI Innovation. The centre operates Gefion, Denmark’s first AI-ready supercomputer.
Anthropic, meanwhile, is expanding its presence in the life sciences sector. In May 2026, the company announced a collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb to deploy Claude across areas including research, clinical development and manufacturing. The Novo collaboration reflects the pharmaceutical industry’s growing interest in using AI throughout R&D. For now, the focus is on testing how the technology can complement researchers and existing workflows, rather than demonstrating that it can independently deliver faster or more successful drug development.
AI in drug development
Last year, researchers developed an AI technology that uses changes in 3D cell shape to predict how cells respond to drugs. Combining 3D imaging with deep learning, the system analyses cellular “fingerprints” that provide more detailed information than conventional 2D imaging. After analysing almost 100,000 3D images of melanoma cells, the AI identified which drug had been applied with 99.3 percent accuracy, including subtle differences between drugs with similar effects. The approach was also tested on red blood cells, brain vessels and stem cells, suggesting broader potential applications.
The researchers estimate that the technology could substantially shorten drug development, particularly the preclinical phase, while helping identify promising treatments and predict their effects earlier. The findings were published in Cell Systems. The ICR is working to further develop the technology through its Center for Cancer Drug Discovery and spin-off company Sentinal4D, with the aim of applying it to cancer drug development and potentially other diseases.
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