AI in life sciences is expanding beyond software into wet labs and preclinical work, with deeper partnerships between Anthropic and pharma players like Genmab, BMS, Novo Nordisk, and Johnson & Johnson, signaling intensified collaboration between AI firms and drug developers.

Tech giants are accelerating R&D investments, with Alphabet and Meta together spending about $118.5 billion in 2025, nearly matching the revenue of the top 10 drugmakers, while Alphabet alone spent roughly $61.1 billion on R&D, about four times Merck’s outlay.

Pharma is scaling AI infrastructure, as Roche deploys thousands of GPUs for AI-enabled discovery and clinical work, and Bristol Myers Squibb builds a second NVIDIA-based AI factory.

Industry context shows these moves are part of a broader trend to fund AI/ML integrations in drug discovery and development, aligning with forecasts for R&D investment.

Lilly is advancing AI with its LillyPod supercomputer running Nvidia’s Nemotron 3 Ultra on site, achieving milestones in AI-assisted drug discovery, while Lilly and Nvidia are launching a co-innovation lab in the Bay Area with up to $1 billion in support.

Isomorphic Labs, backed by strong funding and partnerships, pursues AI-driven drug discovery and has engaged with J&J; its clinic timeline has been pushed to end-2026.

OpenAI expanded into life sciences with GPT-Rosalind for life sciences, attracting early users like Amgen and Moderna, while Genmab and Novo Nordisk deepen Claude-based deployments for drug development and enterprise use.

The report highlights a network of collaborations and lab initiatives across tech and pharma, underscoring a broad industry shift toward AI-enhanced drug discovery.

A notable pharma-tech alliance includes Merck & Co. and Google Cloud signing a multi-year deal worth up to $1 billion, underscoring growing pharma-big tech ties.