As artificial intelligence continues to rewrite the rules in countless industries, pharmaceutical companies are increasingly joining in, with AI partnerships ranging from narrow projects to company-wide efforts.
Novo Nordisk falls into the latter category. On Tuesday morning, the company announced a partnership with OpenAI, ChatGPT’s parent company, to integrate AI “globally from drug discovery to commercial operations.”
In an April 14 release, Novo said the company aims to “bring new and better treatment options to patients faster” through the teamup. Specifically, this includes leveraging AI to analyze complex data sets, identify promising new drug candidates, and shorten overall research and development timelines.
“By integrating AI into our daily operations, we can now analyze datasets at a scale never before possible, identify patterns we couldn’t see, and test hypotheses faster than ever before,” Novo Nordisk CEO Mike Doesder said in a statement. “This means discovering new treatments and bringing them to market faster than ever before.”
In addition to planned research and development operations, the partnership will also include pursuing efficiencies in manufacturing, supply chain operations and corporate functions.
Novo said the partnership features “rigorous data protection” and human oversight to “ensure ethical and compliant use.”
AI partnerships have become a fixture in the life sciences industry in recent years. Among major pharmaceutical companies, Eli Lilly formed its own OpenAI partnership in 2024 to discover new drugs to treat drug-resistant bacteria, and also partnered with Nvidia on industry-leading supercomputers last year.
Additionally, Sanofi and Formation Bio have an OpenAI agreement focused on clinical trial registration, and Moderna is collaborating with leading AI companies on a wide range of initiatives. Thermo Fisher also leveraged OpenAI to help accelerate drug development.
As for Novo, the news comes as the Danish drugmaker seeks to regain an edge over rival Eli Lilly in key diabetes and obesity markets. After a 40% drop in stock price, a CEO change, and widespread layoffs, the company is now making a do-or-die launch with Wegovy’s pill. Novo will have the opportunity to update investors on its progress during its first quarter earnings call on May 6th.
