Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei attends a working lunch on innovation and AI with G7 leaders, G7 outreach partners, and global technology CEOs during the G7 Summit in Evian-les-Bains, France, on June 17, 2026.
Anna Moneymaker | Getty Images News | Getty Images
Anthropic has begun an in-house drug discovery program as part of its efforts to develop artificial intelligence tools designed for pharmaceutical companies, becoming the latest company to enter the healthcare market.
Eric Kauderer-Abrams, head of Anthropic’s life sciences division, said at an event in San Francisco on Tuesday that the company will focus on finding treatments for “neglected” diseases that traditional biopharmaceutical companies don’t consider attractive targets.
“We’re doing this because, above all, we believe that in order to build the right models, products, and tools to accelerate the industry, we need to live this industry with you,” Kauderer-Abrams said. “We believe in the power of tight feedback loops, and there is no substitute for gaining our own experience alongside you on the front lines of drug development.”
Kauderer-Abrams did not say what Anthropic would do if it found a promising new drug candidate. Traditional biopharmaceutical companies typically test them in clinical trials.
An Anthropic spokesperson told CNBC that as a public utility, “we have the ability to select programs based on patient interests, including jobs that are overlooked by the commercial market.”
“We are just getting started, but we will share more as the work progresses,” the spokesperson said.
Big tech companies have been targeting health care for years, with mixed results. alphabet and apple Enter the market in various ways, Amazon built its healthcare business through the acquisitions of One Medical and PillPack, and is now part of a division called Amazon Health Services.
Mr. Kauderer-Abrams and other Anthropic leaders positioned Anthropic’s efforts as a way to collaborate with drug companies they are courting with Claude Science’s new products. Jonah Kuhl, head of life science partnerships at Anthropic, said Anthropic’s goal is to focus on neglected diseases as it creates and sells AI tools for life science companies.
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