Bristol Myers Squibb and NVIDIA Partner on Large AI Supercomputer for Drug Discovery
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has announced plans to build what it describes as the life sciences industry's largest artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer, developed in partnership with NVIDIA. This initiative marks the third time in nine months that a pharmaceutical company has made such a claim regarding a major AI computing project. The expansion aims to enhance the company's capabilities in drug discovery by leveraging computationally intensive foundation models, moving beyond simpler problems like protein structure prediction.
Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) is embarking on a project to assemble what it states will be the largest artificial intelligence (AI) supercomputer in the life sciences industry. This significant undertaking is being developed in collaboration with NVIDIA. The announcement places BMS as the third pharmaceutical company in the past nine months to declare its intention to build the sector's largest AI supercomputer.
The partnership between BMS and NVIDIA originated three years ago, initially focusing on a smaller computing cluster. At that time, the collaboration addressed simpler problems through individual AI tools, such as predicting protein structures. However, this earlier setup eventually reached its capacity. Greg Meyers, BMS Chief Digital and Technology Officer, noted that the company "consumed all the space" it had, making an expansion of computing power essential.
The necessity for enhanced computing capabilities stems from BMS's growing conviction that computationally intensive foundation models can deliver crucial insights. These models are designed to help understand how the company's drug candidates interact both with the human body and with specific diseases. Meyers cited oncology and neurodegeneration as examples of therapeutic areas where BMS has successfully developed and applied such models. The new supercomputer is expected to significantly accelerate these advanced research efforts.
According to STAT News, this investment underscores a broader industry trend towards leveraging advanced AI infrastructure to transform drug discovery and development processes.
