Eli Lilly and Nvidia have announced a partnership to create the pharmaceutical industry’s “most powerful” supercomputer and AI factory aimed at accelerating drug discovery and development. This initiative seeks to expedite the time it takes to bring drugs from lab to market, which typically spans around 10 years. Eli Lilly’s chief information and digital officer, Diogo Lau, noted that while the supercomputer and AI factory are set to launch in January, significant benefits will likely only be realized by 2030.
The supercomputer will utilize over 1,000 Nvidia Blackwell Ultra GPUs, functioning as a specialized infrastructure for developing and deploying AI models in drug discovery. Thomas Fuchs, Eli Lilly’s chief AI officer, described these supercomputers as transformative scientific tools, enabling large-scale testing of potential drugs and expanding the scope of drug discovery.
Eli Lilly’s TuneLab platform, launched in September, will facilitate access to trained AI models for biotech companies, promoting collaborative research through federated learning. Companies contributing their data can benefit from advanced drug discovery tools without directly sharing sensitive information.
In addition to accelerating drug development, the partnership aims to enhance personalized medicine by utilizing advanced medical imaging to identify disease biomarkers. Both companies are committed to establishing a robust AI infrastructure to enable precision medicine tailored to individual patient characteristics.
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