A group of financial researchers took a crack at novel drug development without having any prior experience. Thanks to AI, the results weren’t a complete embarrassment… far from it.
Driving the news: Influential financial newsletter Citrini Research worked with Anthropic to develop molecules that could help create a new scorpion antivenom. Citrini developed 17 designs that met its criteria, and while none have been tested yet to see if they actually stop scorpion toxin, the experiment showed promise for drastically reducing research times.
Claude delivered these results in a matter of days from a 35-page prompt (which Claude itself mostly developed) and minimal human interference over two sessions.
In total, just five human messages were sent to Claude during the design campaign, which cost US$49,997 before human testing at two independent labs began.
Zoom in: The ultimate goal of this experiment wasn’t to create a new biotech juggernaut, but to test the viability of investing in AI drug discovery-focused life sciences businesses. Citrini’s takeaway: these companies could soon make great strides, and in turn unlock a lot of value.
“As these ‘virtual biologists’ become more widely adopted, demand should rise for any company that sends them their first real-world invoice,” read Citrini’s report.
Why it matters: Investment in life sciences is way down from its pandemic peak with so much cash tied up in the AI boom. If more of these companies make themselves part of the boom, that trend could reverse. And hey, maybe some nifty new drugs will come of it.—QH
