Anthropic Says Mithril Drug Reached Animal Testing With AI Support

Anthropic said its acquired drug developer Mithril Medicine has advanced a potential treatment for a rare muscle-wasting disease to animal testing, after using the company’s AI tools to coordinate research across outside laboratories.

The company disclosed partnerships with six biomedical organizations in October and acquired Mithril, which had one full-time employee. Mithril’s founder used Claude to manage experiments, analyze data and coordinate work at 11 outside labs. The research reached animal testing in less than 18 months.

Some treated mice showed about twice the grip and muscle strength of untreated mice, and their survival improved. Anthropic said the treatment could enter human trials as early as late 2028 if further experiments go well. That timing remains conditional on the results of those experiments.

The drug work provides a specific example of Anthropic’s involvement in biomedical research as CEO Dario Amodei makes broader claims about AI and health. During the company’s IPO roadshow, Amodei said cancer, Alzheimer’s disease, heart disease and mental illness could become a thing of the past in under 10 years if AI risks are properly controlled. His forecast about AI and four diseases has also been tied to a call for companies to manage those risks and earn public trust.

Amodei has described AI as a way to speed drug design and the analysis of experimental data. In a June essay, he wrote that new drugs typically take about seven to eight years to clear regulatory approval in the United States and Europe. He has argued that improved AI simulations, toxicity predictions and biomarkers could shorten development while preserving safety checks.

AI cannot directly shorten the time researchers need to observe whether a treatment works in people or causes long-term side effects. For Mithril’s potential treatment, the next stated milestone is human trials, which could begin as early as late 2028 if the additional experiments go well.