Novo Nordisk will open AI hub in London
Novo Nordisk is planning to open an artificial intelligence (AI) research facility in London, UK, as part of a drive to place the technology at the heart of its drug discovery operations.
The Danish drugmaker confirmed to pharmaphorum this morning that it has taken a lease on new office space in London’s Knowledge Quarter (KQ) in the vicinity of King’s Cross, and that around 40 workers will be based at the site from Novo Nordisk’s R&D and IT divisions.
The KQ cluster is in close proximity to major institutions at the heart of AI and life sciences research, including the Alan Turing Institute, Francis Crick Institute, and the Wellcome Trust, as well as tech giant Google and pharma group AstraZeneca.
Novo Nordisk’s Digital Innovation Hub will play a key role in “enhancing innovation and collaboration to create and apply artificial intelligence […] in the discovery and development of new potential drug candidates” and is expected to be up and running in the first quarter of this year, said a Novo Nordisk spokesperson.
“The Knowledge Quarter represents a vibrant and diverse AI research ecosystem, world-renowned for its focus to drive advances in fields such as artificial intelligence, data science, and engineering,” added the spokesperson.
“Having a presence here will allow Novo Nordisk to better collaborate with leading research institutions, big tech, and innovative start-ups, and attract top talent.”
The opening of the hub is part of a concerted effort by Novo Nordisk to digitise processes across its business, including in R&D, where AI is starting to deliver a new generation of medicinal products.
In September, for example, the company signed an agreement with US start-up Valo Health to apply its AI-powered drug discovery engine to find new therapies for cardiometabolic diseases, which included an upfront fee of $60 million and a total value of up to $2.7 billion.
It also has a longstanding alliance in place with e-Therapeutics to use AI in the hunt for new biological targets and therapies for type 2 diabetes. Meanwhile, similar alliances are springing up across the pharma industry, with deals in just the last few weeks involving Genentech and NVIDIA, Eli Lilly and Fauna, Bayer and Recursion, and Owkin and Servier.
Novo Nordisk’s move is also a boost to the UK’s ambition to position the country as an international hub for AI, helped by initiatives such as the launch of a new AI Safety Institute by the government in November.
