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
