Anthropic is setting up a biology lab where Claude guides robots through drug experiments

Anthropic is building a biology lab in the San Francisco area where its Claude model will guide robots through drug experiments with minimal human involvement, Reuters reported. The lab builds on Anthropic's April acquisition of startup Coefficient Bio for about $400 million and the addition of Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan to its board, and follows the release of Claude Science and the Model Hardware Standard for controlling lab equipment. Eric Kauderer-Abrams, who runs Anthropic's life sciences division, said the biggest opportunity is in diseases long considered "undruggable," where AI could speed up the design of complex antibodies that hit multiple targets at once; Anthropic says human oversight is still required for safety and it won't run its own clinical trials for now.

Anthropic is setting up a biology lab where Claude guides robots through drug experiments Anthropic is building its own biology lab to push AI-driven drug development beyond computer simulations. The lab, located in the San Francisco area, will allow the company to run physical experiments, Reuters reports https://www.reuters.com/world/anthropic-quietly-sets-up-biology-lab-it-ramps-ai-drug-program-2026-09-18/ . The plan is for Claude to guide robots through experiments with minimal human involvement. Anthropic has already shipped two tools to make that work: Claude Science https://the-decoder.com/anthropic-launches-claude-science-an-ai-workspace-built-specifically-for-researchers/ , an AI workspace built for researchers, and the Model Hardware Standard https://the-decoder.com/anthropic-wants-to-do-for-physical-hardware-what-its-model-context-protocol-did-for-software/ for controlling lab equipment. Human oversight is still required for safety, the company says. Eric Kauderer-Abrams, who runs Anthropic's life sciences division, sees the biggest opportunity in diseases long considered "undruggable" because no treatment exists. AI could speed up the design of complex antibodies that hit multiple targets at once, he says. The lab push builds on moves Anthropic made earlier this year. In April, the company acquired the startup Coefficient Bio https://the-decoder.com/anthropic-drops-400-million-in-shares-on-an-eight-month-old-ai-pharma-startup-with-fewer-than-ten-employees/ for about $400 million and added Novartis CEO Vas Narasimhan https://the-decoder.com/anthropic-launches-its-own-drug-discovery-programs-to-tackle-diseases-big-pharma-considers-unprofitable/ to its board. Anthropic won't run its own clinical trials for now, according to the report, to avoid stepping on pharma companies' toes. AI News Without the Hype – Curated by Humans Subscribe to THE DECODER for ad-free reading, a weekly AI newsletter, our exclusive "AI Radar" frontier report six times a year, full archive access, and access to our comment section. Subscribe now Reuters https://www.reuters.com/world/anthropic-quietly-sets-up-biology-lab-it-ramps-ai-drug-program-2026-09-18/