At the event "The Briefing: AI for Science," Anthropic announced Claude Science, described as an "AI workbench for scientists" that pulls fragmented tools and datasets into one environment and generates figures and visuals. The company framed the launch around AI's potential to "dramatically accelerate the pace of scientific discovery and the development of healthcare interventions" and pointed to biotech and pharma customers already using Claude.
Anthropic also said it would develop drugs of its own. Head of life sciences Eric Kauderer-Abrams said the company will focus on discovering treatments for "neglected" diseases. The move is described as one of the most direct public attempts by a major frontier AI company to actually develop drugs itself, putting it in the unusual position of selling software to potentially competing drugmakers. Other AI companies with life sciences efforts include OpenAI, Amazon, and Google, and the broader race includes AI-first drug companies such as Insilico, Google DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs, biotech startups, and Big Pharma firms.
Anthropic provided few specific details about its drug development plans. Kauderer-Abrams did not say what the company would do if it finds promising drug candidates, and Anthropic did not respond to requests for comment on what diseases it plans to target first or whether it would partner for lab work, animal testing, clinical trials, or manufacturing. Namshik Han, a University of Cambridge professor and cofounder of AI biotech startup CardiaTec, called "AI drug discovery" "a really broad term" and said AI is applied at "every single stage of drug discovery," from finding new compounds to supporting clinical trials and manufacturing.