Jan 15 (Reuters) – Pharmaceutical companies are increasingly turning to artificial intelligence to accelerate R&D, betting on new modeling tools and automated labs to unlock efficiency gains across their pipeline.
Industry forecasts suggest that the use of machine-learning to optimize target discovery, design molecules and streamline clinical-trial planning could halve early-stage development timelines and costs within the next three to five years.
Below are the major AI-related partnerships announced from 2025 through early 2026:
Deal Partners Deal size Primary objective
announcem (as
ent reported)
Jan 7, PostEra $610 mln Expand
2025 × Pfizer potential; Pfizer–PostEra AI
incl. $12 Lab and add ADC
mln upfront payload‑design
program
Jan 13, IQVIA × Undisclosed Build custom AI
2025 NVIDIA models/agents to
automate
R&D–commercial
workflows
Feb 20, Incyte × $30 mln Use GEMS platform
2025 Genesis upfront; up to design small
Therapeu to $295 molecules for
tics mln/target Incyte targets
milestones
+ royalties
Mar 3, Kyndryl Undisclosed Deploy
2025 × Dragon Copilot to
Microsof reduce
t documentation
burden
Mar 18, GE Undisclosed Develop
2025 HealthCa autonomous X‑ray
re × and ultrasound
NVIDIA workflows
Mar 25, Clevelan Undisclosed Form task force to
2025 d Clinic accelerate AI use
× G42 in care and
operations
Apr 16, Kenvue × Undisclosed Modernize
2025 Microsof (5‑yr) operations using
t Azure, genAI, and
digital twins
Apr 29, Eli $13 mln Use AI
2025 Lilly × upfront; engine to design
Creyon >$1 bln improved
Bio milestones RNA‑targeted oligos
May 21, Genentec $105 mln
2025 h upfront; Discover monovalent
(Roche) >$2 bln molecular glues
× milestones using Allo‑Glue
Orionis + royalties platform
Bioscien
ces
Jun 11, Novo Undisclosed Build bespoke AI
2025 Nordisk models using Gefion
× NVIDIA supercomputer
× DCAI
(Gefion)
Jun 13, AstraZen $110 mln Discover oral drug
2025 eca × upfront; up candidates; AZ
CSPC to $1.62 holds global
Pharmace bln dev licensing rights
utical milestones;
up to $3.6
bln sales
milestones
Jun Pfizer × Undisclosed Expand to next‑gen
29–30, XtalPi physics + AI
2025 modelling platform
Jul 2, AstraZen Undisclosed Use multimodal AI
2025 eca × (multi‑year models to speed
Modella ) oncology
AI development
Aug 14, Eli Up to $1.3 Apply AI GPCR
2025 Lilly × bln + platform to
Superlum royalties undisclosed targets
inal
Medicine
s
Sep 1, Universi £118 mln Use AI + challenge
2025 ty of funding models to map
Oxford × correlates of
Ellison immunity
Institut
e
Sep 23, Merck Undisclosed Connect R&D and
2025 KGaA × (MoU) manufacturing
Siemens through Siemens
digital platforms
Oct 14, Takeda × Double‑digi Use JAM AI model to
2025 Nabla t millions design antibodies
Bio upfront + and multispecifics
>$1 bln
milestones
Oct Novartis ~$12 bln Acquire
26–27, × cash Avidity to
2025 Avidity strengthen xRNA and
Bioscien neuromuscular
ces portfolio
Oct 28, Eli Undisclosed Build large‑scale
2025 Lilly × (>1,000 AI supercomputer
NVIDIA GPUs) for R&D
Oct 28, Johnson Undisclosed Use Isaac +
2025 & Omniverse to
Johnson simulate OR
MedTech workflows
× NVIDIA
Nov 10, Eli >$100 mln Use Pharma.AI to
2025 Lilly × potential + design
Insilico royalties small‑molecule
Medicine candidates
Nov 20, Merck Over $3 bln Use Valo’s
2025 KGaA × potential human‑data AI to
Valo identify targets
Health and speed
preclinical work
Dec 9, Novartis $55 mln Use AI +
2025 × upfront + multi‑omics to find
Relation up to $1.7 first‑in‑class
Therapeu bln targets
tics milestones
Jan 7, GSK × Undisclosed Provide GSK exome +
2026 Helix longitudinal data
for target
discovery
Jan 8, GSK × $50 mln License AI
2026 Noetik upfront + virtual‑cell models
near‑term for cancer research
milestones
Jan 8, Pfizer × Undisclosed Fine‑tune Boltz AI
2026 Boltz models with Pfizer
data
Jan 9, Schrodin Undisclosed
2026 ger × Integrate TuneLab
Eli models into
Lilly LiveDesign
Jan 12, NVIDIA × Undisclosed Pair NVIDIA AI with
2026 Thermo lab instruments for
Fisher automation
Jan 12, NVIDIA × Up to $1 Create closed-loop
2026 Eli bln over 5 AI + robotics
Lilly years discovery lab
Jan 13, Illumina Undisclosed Launch Billion Cell
2026 × Atlas for
AstraZen large‑scale AI
eca × training
Merck ×
Eli
Lilly
Jan 13, AstraZen Undisclosed Acquire
2026 eca Modella to deploy
acquires foundation models
Modella across oncology R&D
AI
(Reporting by Kamal Choudhury and Puyaan Singh in Bengaluru; Editing by Shailesh Kuber)
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