21 September 2026 · The Pharmacist
Novo partners with Anthropic to develop AI software and medicines
Pharmaceutical manufacturer Novo has formed a partnership with artificial intelligence company Anthropic. The collaboration is aimed at accelerating the discovery and development of new medicines while simultaneously advancing artificial intelligence software tools. According to the announcement, the initiative will focus on addressing critical drug discovery hurdles that have been identified directly by scientific and computational teams within Novo.
Under the arrangement, Novo plans to combine its scientific expertise with Anthropic's artificial intelligence capabilities to target specific technical challenges in laboratory research and computational analysis. Mike Doustdar, the president and chief executive of Novo, highlighted the agreement as an important step in the company's ongoing research and development strategy. Specific project milestones, targeted disease categories, and the financial structure of the partnership have not been detailed in the initial release.
The alliance illustrates the continuing trend of pharmaceutical manufacturers collaborating with specialist technology developers to enhance early-stage discovery programmes and data processing workflows. Because the focus remains on upstream computational discovery and software tooling rather than downstream supply or product distribution, the partnership does not require any direct adjustments to current clinical workflows. For UK online pharmacies and digital health brands, the agreement holds no immediate operational impact, though it may eventually affect future drug development cycles over the coming years.