By Dominic Chopping and Mauro Orru


Novo Nordisk said it would work with ChatGPT maker OpenAI on how to leverage artificial intelligence to discover new drugs, the latest AI partnership in the medical field as healthcare companies seek to harness the technology to get ahead of the competition.

The Danish drugmaker said it would integrate OpenAI's models across its operations to help its workforce analyze complex datasets and reduce the time it takes to move from research to delivering treatments to patients.

The group said the partnership would boost efficiency across manufacturing, distribution, the supply chain and corporate, with pilot programs initially launching in research and development, manufacturing and commercial operations ahead of a full AI integration by the end of the year.

Drugmakers are turning to AI companies and their increasingly powerful models to improve operations and cut repetitive tasks for employees, giving them more time to focus on R&D in a bet that advancements in the technology will help them identify promising new drugs and treatments.

"Integrating AI in our everyday work gives us the ability to analyze datasets at a scale that was previously impossible, identify patterns we could not see, and test hypotheses faster than ever," Novo Nordisk Chief Executive Mike Doustdar said. "This means discovering new therapies and bringing them to market faster than ever before."

Novo Nordisk is the latest high-profile company in the pharmaceutical industry to partner with the ChatGPT maker. Moderna has joined forces with OpenAI to deploy ChatGPT Enterprise across various business functions and advance its work on mRNA medicine. Meanwhile, Sanofi and Formation Bio are partnering with OpenAI to accelerate drug development and bring new medicines to patients.

Novo Nordisk said its partnership with OpenAI--which has been structured with tight data protection, governance and human oversight rules to ensure ethical use of AI--came on top of work it is already doing with other tech companies. Last year, it joined forces with Nvidia to accelerate drug discovery with AI.

"There are millions of people living with obesity and diabetes who need treatment options, and we know there are therapies still waiting to be discovered that could change their lives," Doustdar said.

News Corp, owner of Dow Jones Newswires and The Wall Street Journal, has a content-licensing partnership with OpenAI.


Write to Dominic Chopping at dominic.chopping@wsj.com and Mauro Orru at mauro.orru@wsj.com


(END) Dow Jones Newswires

04-14-26 0625ET