PFIZER at the AI for Health Summit – AI: On a mission to make drug development faster and smarter

Pfizer, globally renowned for its COVID-19 vaccine, is leveraging artificial intelligence to revolutionize drug development. AI is viewed as a game-changer, impacting every stage of the pharmaceutical process, from preclinical research to patient access and manufacturing, with both operational and transformative applications.

AI improves day-to-day pharmaceutical tasks, such as regulatory file preparation, safety reporting, and manufacturing efficiency. By optimizing these processes, AI not only saves time but also reduces carbon footprints and development cycles, enhancing overall operational performance.

AI enables significant advancements in preclinical drug discovery and clinical development. For example, during COVID-19, AI reduced preclinical development times from four years to four months by narrowing molecule testing from 3 million compounds to 600. Similarly, AI accelerated clinical trial timelines for the COVID-19 vaccine, launching trials in six countries and enrolling 46,000 participants in just four months—a process that traditionally takes years.

AI addresses rising drug development costs, now approaching $4 billion per product. Tools like generative AI streamline clinical trial protocol design, regulatory dossier preparation, and data cleaning, reducing costs and timelines. Translational AI ensures compliance with local regulations and improves patient consent processes, demonstrating AI’s role in making trials faster and more efficient.

Data serves as the foundation of AI innovation. With decades of clinical data and millions of data points, Pfizer leverages AI to improve clinical success rates, doubling them to nearly 20% compared to the industry average of 7-10%. However, achieving these results requires robust, high-quality, and diverse datasets.

Partnerships are essential for advancing AI in healthcare. Pfizer collaborates across industries, with academic centers and startups, as seen in its involvement with IMI Big Picture, which builds a vast database of 3 million disease samples. In France, the Pfizer Healthcare Hub connects 40 startups to global expertise, fostering innovation and accelerating the development of patient-focused solutions.

AI and biotherapeutic platforms represent converging revolutions in life sciences, creating a renaissance in innovation. While Europe lags behind the U.S. in drug approvals and innovation, France has the potential to lead in AI. Achieving this requires a unified regulatory framework, scalable investments, and cross-border collaboration to overcome cultural and linguistic barriers.

AI is transforming drug development and presents an opportunity for Europe, and particularly France, to lead in life sciences innovation. By focusing on partnerships, data quality, and scalability, Pfizer envisions a future where AI drives faster, smarter, and more accessible healthcare solutions.