The pharmaceutical industry is investing heavily in artificial intelligence (AI), but no drug developed entirely using AI has yet been commercialized. This could evolve with rentosertib, the first treatment designed by the company Insilico Medicine, which should enter phase 3 clinical trials in the next eighteen months.
As Quartz reports, new investments and partnerships are multiplying. Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, has injected more than $100 million (approximately €85.5 million) into AI-based pharmaceutical start-ups. According to Precedence Research, the global market for AI applied to pharmacy is expected to reach $2.51 billion in 2026 and $16.49 billion in 2034.
We now talk less about the limits than about the concrete benefits of AI in biomedical research. For Samuel Scarpino, of Northeastern University in Boston (United States), this technology has infiltrated all fields. Eli Lilly is establishing itself as one of the leaders in the sector: in October 2025, the company announced a partnership with Nvidia to build a supercomputer dedicated to the discovery and virtual testing of millions of molecules. It also collaborates with Insilico Medicine to develop new therapies and encourages its employees to integrate AI into their businesses. A drug designed by AI could thus see the light of day by 2030.
Investor confidence
Developing a drug usually takes ten to fifteen years and costs more than $2 billion (1.7 billion euros), with a failure rate of around 90%. Rentosertib reached the first clinical stages in less than two years, a remarkable pace. It targets idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis, a rare and fatal disease which causes tens of thousands of deaths per year worldwide. A phase 2 study in 71 patients showed improvement in lung function, with few side effects, paving the way for phase 3.
This confidence in AI attracts capital. A project like AlphaFold2, a system developed by Google DeepMind and Isomorphic Labs, has for example been able since 2020 to predict the three-dimensional structure of nearly 200 million proteins. This advance has earned its creators major recognition in biomedical research.
For Diogo Rau, executive at Eli Lilly, AI does not yet replace researchers: its role in clinical trials remains limited but it is profoundly transforming the professions and methods of the pharmaceutical industry. Survey finds 48% of biopharma professionals use AI extensively today, and three-quarters believe it will transform drug discovery by 2030.
Among the most committed figures, Sam Altman invested 180 million dollars (approximately 154 million euros) in Retro Bio, which collaborates with OpenAI to develop treatments intended to slow down aging. The objective: to gain up to ten years of healthy life, with a clinical trial planned in Australia on Alzheimer’s disease. OpenAI also supports Chai Discovery, valued at more than $1 billion, which is already generating new molecules using its models. According to its CEO Josh Meier, “this year things really started to work” for AI in drug discovery.
