Question to the Department for Science, Innovation & Technology:

To ask His Majesty's Government what assessment they have made of the use of artificial intelligence to support the discovery and development of new medicines.

The Government recognises the significant potential for artificial intelligence to support the discovery and development of new medicines. AI’s most credible near-term contribution is in the early design and discovery stages, where it can help researchers analyse complex biological and chemical data, predict molecular structure and binding, identify promising therapeutic candidates, and anticipate how pathogens or disease targets may evolve.

The UK is well placed to be a leader in AI-led medicines discovery. The Government’s AI for Science Strategy, published in November 2025 and backed by £137 million, is investing in the key enablers for AI-enabled science, including advanced compute, high-quality data, and skills. Medical research and engineering biology are two of the Strategy’s five priority areas. The strategy includes Mission One: to accelerate pre-clinical drug discovery and develop trial-ready drugs within 100 days by 2030.

The Sovereign AI Fund is backing strategically important UK AI capability relevant to medicines discovery, including support for Isomorphic Labs, a UK-based frontier AI drug design company, and an £8 million investment in OpenBind to generate high-quality protein-ligand binding data for better AI models in drug design. DSIT has also announced £100 million to harness frontier AI in support of biosecurity and pandemic preparedness, including by accelerating the design of more resilient countermeasures.