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Novartis and Microsoft to develop drugs using AI

Novartis building
Joint research activities will be carried out at the Novartis Campus in Basel, Switzerland, at the Novartis Global Service Center in Dublin, Ireland, and at Microsoft Research Lab in Cambridge, Britain. © Keystone / Georgios Kefalas

Swiss pharmaceutical firm Novartis and computer giant Microsoft have signed a five-year partnership deal aimed at transforming the Basel-based pharma’s business - from finance to manufacturing - using artificial intelligence.

The new Novartis AI innovation lab, with Microsoft as its strategic AI and data-science partner, aims to “significantly bolster Novartis AI capabilities from research through commercialization and help accelerate the discovery and development of transformative medicines for patients worldwide”, the two firms said in a statement on TuesdayExternal link.

Joint research activities will be carried out at the Novartis Campus in Basel, Switzerland, at the Novartis Global Service Center in Dublin, Ireland, and at the Microsoft Research Lab in Cambridge, Britain. 

They hope to start focusing on personalized therapies for macular degeneration, cell & gene therapies and drug design.

Novartis Chief Executive Officer Vas Narasimhan said, “As Novartis continues evolving into a focused medicines company powered by advanced therapy platforms and data science, alliances like this will help us deliver on our purpose to reimagine medicine to improve and extend lives. Pairing our deep knowledge of human biology and medicine with Microsoft’s leading expertise in AI could transform the way we discover and develop medicines for the world.”

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