Healthcare Economist January 15, 2026
The Economist reports that many life science companies are betting big on AI to help with drug development. Why? If AI can increase their likelihood new molecules become successful drugs, the cost of drug development will fall.
AI-designed molecules show an 80-90% success rate in early-stage safety trials, compared with a historical average of just 40-65%. It will be years before it becomes clear whether success rates rise in later-stage trials, too. But even if they do not, one model suggests that early-stage improvements alone could increase the success rate across the entire pipeline from 5-10% to 9-18%.
Tech companies may be increasing involved in life science as well:
A new generation of AI-native biotech startups—particularly...
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