SAN FRANCISCO: Anthropic has set up a wet lab in San Francisco Bay Area, expanding its artificial intelligence ambitions into physical biology and drug science, according to two people familiar with the matter and company life sciences head Eric Kauderer-Abrams.The Dario Amodei-led startup has said it wants to unlock treatments for rare diseases, taking its biology work beyond computer evaluations. A spokesperson said the lab was not specifically for drug discovery but declined to elaborate. “We believe that to do biology, the final test is still and will be for a while in real lab work,” Kauderer-Abrams said. He said Anthropic conducted some work in its facilities and some with external partners.Anthropic wants its Claude AI to direct robotic units conducting experiments with limited human intervention, a source said. Its spokesperson said human involvement remained essential for safety.“In our life-science work, we’re always balancing these things,” Kauderer-Abrams said, “making models better in ways that we think will uplift and accelerate developing medicines, and being thoughtful about how we deploy it to limit the risk.”Anthropic said in June it planned preclinical work in areas traditional companies found financially unattractive. It launched Claude Science, added Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan to its board and acquired Coefficient Bio for about $400 million in stock, according to media reports. Anthropic confirmed the acquisition but not the price.The company is expanding in-house laboratory work for speed and firsthand biology experience, while outsourcing where efficient. Job advertisements indicate it is hiring for procurement and operations as well as protein and nucleic acid characterisation. Life sciences is already among its biggest investment areas by staff.Anthropic believes AI could accelerate work on previously “undruggable” conditions, including development of complex antibodies. However, the diseases targeted and its progress remain unclear. It is not conducting clinical trials for now, focusing on needs industry would not address. Reuters
