SAN FRANCISCO, 26 January 2026 — Artificial intelligence has yet to crack the hardest challenge in drug discovery, consistently finding breakthrough molecules, but it is already significantly accelerating clinical trials and regulatory submissions, according to pharmaceutical executives speaking at the recent JP Morgan Healthcare Conference.
Industry leaders said AI is helping companies identify trial participants and sites faster and draft complex regulatory documents, shaving weeks off processes that are traditionally manual, labour-intensive and costly. Bringing a new drug to market typically takes around a decade and costs about US$2 billion, making efficiency gains increasingly critical.
Major pharmaceutical companies including AstraZeneca, Roche, Pfizer and Eli Lilly, which has partnered with Nvidia, are among those investing heavily in AI-driven tools.
Consultancy McKinsey has projected that agentic AI, which operates with minimal human intervention, could lift clinical development productivity by 35% to 45% over the next five years.
Cutting Through Drug Development’s “Messy Middle”
Israel-based Teva Pharmaceutical Industries said it is deploying AI across multiple functions to free up resources for higher-value scientific work.
“Everything else that’s around that needs to be as efficient and as small as possible,” said Teva CEO Richard Francis.
“This is where AI digitization, modernization and process improvement, all the unsexy stuff, makes a difference.”
Executives described the challenge of managing thousands of pages of regulatory documentation, including clinical, safety and manufacturing records that must be cross-checked and aligned across jurisdictions.
AstraZeneca Chief Financial Officer Aradhana Sarin said compiling and maintaining such documents often requires expensive external contractors, making AI-based automation particularly attractive.
Faster Trials, Fewer Dropouts
Venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz is investing in what partner Jorge Conde calls drug development’s “messy middle,” including trial enrolment. He recently backed startup Alleviate Health with US$4.3 million, targeting what he described as a “leaky funnel” where participants frequently drop out.
AI tools are being used to improve patient outreach, education, screening and scheduling, reducing attrition and speeding enrolment.
TD Cowen analyst Brendan Smith said administrative uses of AI, including large language models such as Microsoft Copilot, are already fairly common across the sector. However, he cautioned that it may take one to three years before investors can clearly quantify how much AI is accelerating drug development.
Novartis Slashes Trial Setup Time
Swiss drugmaker Novartis turned to AI in 2023 while launching a 14,000-patient late-stage cardiovascular outcomes trial for its cholesterol drug Leqvio.
Chief Medical Officer Shreeram Aradhye said a site selection process that normally takes four to six weeks was compressed into a two-hour meeting, allowing the company to complete enrolment with just 13 patients above its target.
“AI becomes augmenting intelligence, not artificial intelligence,” Aradhye said.
A Novartis spokesperson added that time savings from AI can accumulate to months across an entire drug development programme.
Measurable Cost Savings Emerging
British drugmaker GSK said it aims to speed up all clinical trials by 15% using a mix of digital and AI tools. The approach helped save about £8 million (US$10.87 million) last year during late-stage studies of its asthma drug Exdensur, which received US approval last month.
Danish antibody developer Genmab plans to deploy Anthropic’s Claude-powered agentic AI to automate post-trial analysis, converting data into tables, graphs and clinical study reports.
German radiopharmaceuticals firm ITM said it has developed AI tools to convert lengthy trial reports into US FDA template formats, potentially saving weeks of work, though the system has yet to be rolled out.
At Amgen, research chief Jay Bradner said AI is already delivering across development and regulatory preparation.
“What everybody’s waiting for is the AI drug. When do I get the AI drug?” Bradner said. “I actually think those molecules are in pipelines right now.”
