Artificial intelligence (AI) corporations Anthropic launched a new drug development program, moving to target the healthcare market.
Anthropic on the 30th (local time) unveiled its automated new drug development software (SW) "Claude Science" at an event in San Francisco.
Claude Science integrates the tools researchers use to support literature analysis, multi-step studies, and the creation of visual research outputs. It comes preconfigured for research environments in fields such as genomics, proteomics, and cheminformatics, and connects with more than 60 scientific databases.
Eric Cowdrey-Abrams, head of life sciences at Anthropic, who took the stage as presenter, said the company will focus on discovering treatments for neglected diseases that legacy pharmaceutical companies do not see as attractive investment targets.
Regarding why Anthropic is directly engaging in new drug development, Cowdrey-Abrams said, "Because to build the right models, products, and tools that will accelerate the industry's progress, we need firsthand experience."
Claude Science runs on the AI model "Opus 4.8," released in May. Generated outputs include information that allows sources and evidence to be traced, enabling researchers to verify the content. Generated images also include information that makes the creation process verifiable.
An Anthropic Spokesperson added, "As a public-interest corporations, we can choose programs that benefit patients, including work the commercial market overlooks."
Meanwhile, Anthropic earlier hired John Jumper, vice president at Google DeepMind, who developed AlphaFold, an AI tool specialized for new drug and new materials development. Former vice president Jumper solved the protein-folding problem with the AlphaFold AI and, together with DeepMind Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Demis Hassabis, jointly won the 2024 Nobel Prize in chemistry.