Anthropic reports early progress in using Claude to accelerate drug development

Over the past several months, Anthropic has partnered with six organizations working on new medicines: BigHat Biosciences, Bristol Myers Squibb, Divergence Labs, Enveda, Generate Biomedicines and The Column Group. The company has also launched its own drug discovery programs.

At Generate Biomedicines, researchers used Claude Code to redesign part of the genetic instructions involved in CAR T-cell therapy, which is primarily used to treat blood cancers. The company is exploring ways to adapt the treatment for solid tumors. According to Anthropic, one proposed design was approximately 70% shorter than the standard version and performed better in laboratory tests, enabling immune cells to produce roughly 10 times as many receptors and kill tumor cells more efficiently.

At Divergence Labs, Claude generated approximately 35,000 antibody designs in about a month for research into a potential treatment for food allergies. Early tests identified three designs that could bind to immunoglobulin E (IgE), a molecule involved in allergic reactions, and 20 that could detach it from immune cells. Three of the latter appeared to outperform a standard medication in this specific test, Anthropic said.

The technology has also been used to optimize potential drug candidates. In collaboration with BigHat Biosciences, researchers used Claude to help improve two antibody fragments that could become components of future medicines. A laboratory team produced and tested approximately 1,010 variants over 10 weeks. The best-performing versions showed stronger target binding, improved stability or slower aggregation compared with the original molecules.

At biotechnology company Enveda, a Claude-powered system reviewed 1,061 pages of pharmaceutical manufacturing documentation. It identified all 11 issues previously detected by human reviewers and flagged seven additional issues. According to Anthropic, the process reduced review time by 89%, from more than 25 hours to less than three hours.

Anthropic has also begun working with Bristol Myers Squibb on clinical trial planning. The companies are using Claude to analyze plans for an early-stage drug candidate and assess the likelihood of trial success. They plan to expand the collaboration in 2027 to evaluate whether the approach can improve decision-making during early drug development.

In addition, Anthropic announced that it had acquired Mithril Medicine, a company developing treatments for two rare forms of muscular dystrophy. Its founder, Cody Tranbarger, used Claude to coordinate experiments with 11 external laboratories and manage other research operations. Anthropic said the research produced promising results in mice in less than 18 months. If the drug candidates continue to demonstrate potential, the company expects one could enter human clinical trials as early as late 2028.

Anthropic emphasized that the research remains at an early stage and is predominantly preclinical, meaning most of the potential treatments have not yet reached human trials. The company plans to expand its work with biotechnology partners and explore further applications of AI across the drug development process.

Earlier, Qazinform reported that Anthropic had introduced Claude Opus 5.5, which the company said costs 40% less to run than its predecessor while generating output more than 30% faster. The model is designed for complex tasks, including research and business workflows.