Artificial intelligence (AI) specialist Anthropic has detailed its plans to dive deeper into the world of drug discovery and development as the tech giant plots its debut on the Nasdaq exchange.
In a recent S-1 filing with the US Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC), Anthropic laid out its intentions to roll out an AI technology it says can “compress decades of scientific progress into years, accelerating drug discovery, disease detection and the delivery of personalised therapy”.
At the core of Anthropic’s plan is Powerful AI – a frontier AI model that it hopes will either match or exceed the cognitive capabilities of top human experts across most professional and scientific disciplines. The company also plans to engineer Powerful AI to control laboratory equipment, robotic systems and other machines through digital connections.
Anthropic shares more details on Powerful AI off the back of its debut of its fellow AI tool, Claude Science, in July 2026 – which the company designed to unify and integrate fragmented tools and databases across the drug discovery workflow to enhance procedural efficiency. At the time, Anthropic also announced it would begin drug discovery efforts of its own, specifically focused on “neglected” diseases.
This comes as the big tech player continues to forge partnerships with big names in pharma such as Novo Nordisk, Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS), AbbVie and Sanofi.
While Anthropic did not provide details on how it will price its IPO in this document, it did share its plans to list on the Nasdaq exchange under the ticker ‘ANT’. According to an article by The New York Times, Anthropic is eyeing a $100bn raise – potentially taking its total valuation to as high as $2trn as the company remains in a period of rapid market growth. If this pans out, Anthropic could join the top 10 list of most valuable companies.
Though Claude, Anthropic’s flagship family of large language models (LLMs), has been highly successful commercially over the last few years, Anthropic did address a caveat around its models within its S-1 form, noting that they may “behave in unintended, misaligned or autonomous ways, including by taking harmful actions that no user or third party directed”. Anthropic makes this warning as Australia investigates a Medicare hacking incident instigated by rival OpenAI’s model.
With concerns around the AI’s potential to be used in negative ways by bad actors, experts stress the importance of stringent governance when employing AI in high-risk contexts such as drug discovery and development.
According to GlobalData’s Pharmaceutical Intelligence Center, the total value of pharma AI partnerships jumped 120% year-on-year between 2024 and 2025, highlighting the ongoing shift towards an ‘all in on AI’ approach within the sector.
GlobalData is the parent company of Pharmaceutical Technology.
Source: pharmaceutical-technology.com
The sale of the activities related to custom contract development and manufacturing of pharmaceutical substances and products is intended to sharpen Merck’s portfolio in line with its medium- to long-term strategic direction and focus it on innovation-driven businesses with high value-creation potential.
The license agreement sees Boehringer pay $358m upfront to cover six biologic preclinical programmes. Sino is also in line for up to $7bn in milestone-based payments, alongside royalties on sales from any drugs commercialised via the partnership.
Through its UK-based investment, which makes up part of its £120m ($161m) investment into the UK life sciences ecosystem, AbbVie will build a new 12,000ft² site dedicated to immunology, neuroscience and oncology research at its existing campus in the South-Eastern British city of Oxford – significantly expanding its research capabilities in the region.
