AstraZeneca CEO Pascal Soriot said artificial intelligence is helping pharmaceutical companies develop medicines faster and make smarter decisions throughout the research process.
“The value of AI in our industry is productivity gains,” Soriot said Friday on CNBC’s “Mad Money.” “The way we design new drugs, new drugs, we can actually do it faster and smarter.”
The comments come as investors increasingly question whether massive spending on artificial intelligence is producing meaningful returns in industries such as healthcare. Soriot said AstraZeneca is already seeing practical applications across drug discovery and development, from identifying new targets to improving the design of potential drugs.
“Not only can you come up with new targets, but you can also optimize the molecule (and) remove what you think are potential side effects from that molecule. AI helps with this,” he said.
Soriot noted that AI is also helping the company make better decisions about which drugs to advance through the development process. He said the company, through its partnership with Tempus AI, is using AI models to analyze data with the aim of improving drug discovery and increasing the odds of success in late-stage trials.
“We have developed an agent that integrates all the data, including clinical data and laboratory data, and helps predict the probability of success in a phase 3 trial,” Soriot said.
The potential payoff is huge.
“We’re spending $300 million, $400 million, $500 million on clinical trials,” Soriot said. “If you increase your probability of success, your productivity will increase significantly.”
