As OpenAI explores mathematics and science with its GPT models, Anthropic has also announced preliminary results from Claude’s work in drug discovery and revealed its acquisition of Mithril Medicine, a one-person biotech startup focused on a rare muscle-wasting disease.

Anthropic said that over the past few months, its scientists have worked closely with six organizations developing new drugs and launched its own drug discovery program. However, most of the research is still in the preclinical stage, with no human trials yet. It will still be some time before any new drugs reach the market.

Claude achieves preliminary results in drug discovery

Anthropic says the bottlenecks in new drug development are spread across a lengthy process, so it strategically chooses to partner with others at different stages.

In gene editing, six scientists at Generate Biomedicines used Claude Code to propose a new design for a core genetic instruction in CAR-T cell therapy. One design was about 70% shorter than the standard version and, in experiments, enabled immune cells to produce up to about 10 times as many receptors.

With Claude’s help, startup Divergence Labs independently generated about 35,000 antibody designs in roughly a month. Early tests identified 3 designs that bind to immunoglobulin E (IgE), along with 20 novel designs that can dislodge IgE from immune cells.

Michael Pourdehnad, an expert at multinational pharmaceutical giant Bristol Myers Squibb, said Claude can produce an extremely thorough preliminary analysis from just a single prompt. A task that would normally take days is now completed in an instant, and the two parties plan to expand their collaboration in 2027.

Image source: Bristol Myers Squibb. Bristol Myers Squibb experts say Claude can produce an extremely thorough preliminary analysis from just a single prompt, completing in an instant a task that would normally take days.

Anthropic Acquires Mithril, Sets Its Sights on Rare Diseases

Mithril Medicine founder Cody Tranbarger previously made extensive use of Claude to handle complex contracts, logistics coordination, and experimental data involving 11 external laboratories. In less than 18 months, he successfully advanced a muscular dystrophy drug candidate from concept to preliminary results in mouse studies.

Tranbarger has now officially joined the Anthropic team to continue advancing the rare disease research. Anthropic is optimistic that, if the drug candidate continues to perform well in animal studies, human clinical trials could begin as early as the end of 2028, bringing new hope to people with rare diseases.

Investment Research Firm Also Partners with Anthropic

Meanwhile, investment research firm Citrini Research recently partnered with Anthropic to design scorpion antivenom molecules using the Claude Science model.

Based on a prompt of about 35 pages, Claude efficiently generated around 180 molecular designs in just a few days. After they were synthesized by biotechnology company Twist Bioscience, 17 of the 211 designs tested successfully bound to at least one of the five toxins tested.

Researchers said the preliminary results were promising, but the experiments have yet to verify whether these proteins can actually prevent the toxins from acting. They also acknowledged that AI still faces enormous challenges in handling the complex biochemical mechanisms and interactions of drugs in the human body. Most of the research findings cited above are also preliminary, and whether they can ultimately be turned into approved drugs will require rigorous clinical validation.

Anthropic emphasized that, in addition to its recently launched Claude Science, it will also provide dedicated usage allowances for life science researchers. As the initiative progresses, it will gradually extend Claude’s role into the most critical stages of clinical trials.

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The article “Hoping AI Can Help Treat Rare Diseases! Claude’s Drug Development Shows Preliminary Results, and It Acquires a One-Person Biotech Startup” was first published on “Crypto City”.