Big pharma ยท AI ranking

How big pharma uses AI

Each drug maker ranked on what the public record shows about its AI: how central AI is, how widely it is used, recent moves, and how much is built in house. Open a row for the full report and sources. Point at or tap a profile for what each measure rests on, and a two by two for the full grid.

How the ranking works
  • AI intensity. Our 1 to 5 score. A 1 scores nothing and each step up adds a point.
  • Reach. Parts of drug development where the record shows AI in use. A point for each, up to four.
  • Recent moves. Dated AI moves on file from Nov 2024 to Oct 2026. A point for each, up to four.
  • Builds its own. Read from the first line of the summary. Mostly builds scores four, builds and buys two, mostly buys one, and a line that does not say scores nothing.

The four points add up and the rank follows the sum. When two companies have the same sum, the higher AI intensity goes first, then more recent moves, then more parts of development, then more built in house, then the newer latest move, then the name A to Z. Tied marks only companies equal on all of these, placed A to Z. Point at or tap a profile to see each measure and what it rests on. The two by two plots ambition (AI intensity plus builds its own) against execution (reach plus recent moves); a company sits high on an axis at five points or more out of eight. The ranking counts only what is on the public record, so a quiet company can rank low while doing more in private.

Profile: each ball fills by points out of 4
Order
  1. 1
    AZN
    AI intensity
    3 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 4 parts of development
    Recent moves
    5 dated AI moves, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Builds and buys

    Strongest inReach and recent moves

    In short

    AstraZeneca mixes in-house builds, acquisitions and licensed tools across R&D.

    Latest moveOCT 2026

    AstraZeneca and Oracle signed a term sheet to use AI and de-identified real-world data for trial recruitment, starting in Abu Dhabi with M42.

  2. 2
    JNJ
    AI intensity
    2 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 4 parts of development
    Recent moves
    3 dated AI moves, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Mostly builds

    Strongest inReach and builds its own

    In short

    Johnson & Johnson builds much of its AI in-house and adds selected partners.

    Latest moveAPR 2026

    J&J's CIO said AI has halved lead optimization time and cut study report drafting to about 15 minutes.

  3. 3
    LLY
    AI intensity
    3 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 1 part of development
    Recent moves
    5 dated AI moves, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Mostly builds

    Strongest inRecent moves and builds its own

    In short

    Eli Lilly builds heavily in-house and pairs that with large compute and discovery partnerships.

    Latest moveMAR 2026

    Lilly expanded its Insilico Medicine pact to a deal worth up to $2.75B for AI-discovered oral therapeutics.

  4. 4
    ROG
    AI intensity
    3 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 3 parts of development
    Recent moves
    2 dated AI moves, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Mostly builds

    Strongest inBuilds its own

    In short

    Roche builds most of its AI in house, led by Genentech Research and Early Development, which runs a lab-in-the-loop approach where models trained on experimental data propose molecules that labs then test.

    Latest moveSEP 2026

    Said at Pharma Day that about 40% of recent pipeline decisions had a tracked AI contribution and announced plans for autonomous AI labs.

  5. 5
    SAN
    AI intensity
    2 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 4 parts of development
    Recent moves
    4 dated AI moves, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Builds and buys

    Strongest inReach and recent moves

    In short

    Sanofi calls itself an AI-powered biopharma company and mixes internal builds with partnerships.

    Latest moveJUN 2026

    Signed a multi-year deal with Owkin to co-develop AI agents, including a five-year license to Owkin's K Pro platform.

  6. 6
    PFE
    AI intensity
    2 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 4 parts of development
    Recent moves
    4 dated AI moves, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Builds and buys

    Strongest inReach and recent moves

    In short

    Pfizer uses AI mainly in discovery, through a mix of in-house medicine design teams and licensed or partnered platforms.

    Latest moveJUN 2026

    Licensed Chai Discovery's AI platform, with early access to Chai-3 and a custom model built on Pfizer data.

  7. 7
    BMY
    AI intensity
    2 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 4 parts of development
    Recent moves
    4 dated AI moves, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Mostly buys

    Strongest inReach and recent moves

    In short

    Bristol Myers Squibb mostly buys AI for clinical development rather than building its own platforms.

    Latest moveMAY 2026

    BMS signed a strategic agreement with Anthropic to deploy Claude Enterprise to more than 30,000 employees.

  8. 8
    REGN
    AI intensity
    2 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 2 parts of development
    Recent moves
    3 dated AI moves, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Mostly builds

    Strongest inBuilds its own

    In short

    Regeneron's AI strategy is built on proprietary data rather than outside AI platforms.

    Latest moveAPR 2026

    Licensed de-identified health records on about 300 million patients from TriNetX to grow its genomic database and train AI models.

  9. 9
    NVS
    AI intensity
    2 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 4 parts of development
    Recent moves
    3 dated AI moves, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Mostly buys

    Strongest inReach

    In short

    Novartis mostly buys AI capability through discovery partnerships rather than building its own models.

    Latest moveJUL 2026

    Began a collaboration with Chai Discovery to use Chai-3 and other models to discover antibodies against several targets.

  10. 10
    GILD
    AI intensity
    2 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 2 parts of development
    Recent moves
    2 dated AI moves, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Mostly buys

    Strongest inReach and recent moves

    In short

    Gilead mostly buys AI through partnerships.

    Latest moveOCT 2026

    Gilead renewed Cognizant for five years with a focus on DevOps and responsible agentic AI.

  11. 11
    VRTX
    AI intensity
    2 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 2 parts of development
    Recent moves
    2 dated AI moves, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Not stated

    Strongest inReach and recent moves

    In short

    Vertex has a smaller public AI footprint than most large drug makers.

    Latest moveNOV 2025

    CEO Reshma Kewalramani said AI could cut drafting of regulatory submissions from months to minutes, with human review.

  12. 12
    BIIB
    AI intensity
    2 of 5 on our AI intensity score
    Reach
    AI in 2 parts of development
    Recent moves
    1 dated AI move, Nov 2024 to Oct 2026
    Builds its own
    Not stated

    Strongest inReach

    In short

    Biogen discloses few named AI deals compared with its large-pharma peers.

    Latest moveJUN 2026

    Biogen licensed AI-enabled Alloy Therapeutics' antisense platform, with a $12M upfront disclosed in its Q1 2026 10-Q.