Anthropic and Enveda advance gene editing and drug discovery

Anthropic’s Claude reportedly identified a new enzyme system with CRISPR-like gene-editing properties in bacteriophage DNA, using 950 AI agents and processing 210 million tokens in 21 hours. The company has established a wet biology laboratory where its AI can develop hypotheses, design experiments and interpret results. The work extends its research beyond digital tasks into physical biological experimentation, with safety protocols and human oversight.

Enveda Biosciences is pursuing a different route, using AI to identify potential medicines in plants and microbes. It secured $311 million in Series E funding, doubling its valuation to $2 billion within a year. The funding is intended to accelerate drug candidates into human clinical trials, including treatments for skin conditions and weight loss maintenance. Its approach maps natural chemical diversity to identify bioactive compounds.

Other approaches include Recursion Pharmaceuticals’ automated cellular experiments and image analysis, and Exscientia’s AI-driven design of new molecules. These methods aim to improve target identification, compound selection and early development. Important challenges remain: autonomous laboratories require robust validation and safeguards, while difficult-to-interpret models can complicate regulatory review and trust. Human scientists remain essential for research priorities, experimental verification, ethical decisions and patient safety.