Vertex exec calls AI-cures-all claims "complete BS": 50 AI firms, zero working drugs
AlexTensor · x · 2026-11-12
A WSJ report highlights the gap between AI drug discovery hype and pharma reality. Vertex Pharmaceuticals executive chairman Jeff Leiden called a tech leader's claim that AI would cure 90% of human disease in seven years "complete BS." He said Vertex has worked with roughly 50 AI companies to screen its dataset of 10,000 drug compounds — and not one produced a working drug. No AI-designed drug has won FDA clearance so far, and pharma leaders argue biology itself is the bottleneck. The post contrasts this with Anthropic CEO Dario Amodei's prediction that cancer, Alzheimer's, heart disease and mental illness will be cured within 10 years.
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