Anthropic’s Claude generated roughly 35,000 antibody designs in about a month, with early laboratory tests identifying promising candidates for a potential food allergy treatment.

The results emerged from a collaboration with Divergence Labs, one of six drug development organizations working with Anthropic to explore how artificial intelligence can accelerate the discovery and development of medicines.

In an October 27 announcement, Anthropic detailed several results from these partnerships, including a 10-fold increase in cancer-targeting receptor production, improved antibody stability and an 89% reduction in pharmaceutical document review time.

The company is also conducting its own drug discovery research, including experimental treatments for rare childhood forms of muscular dystrophy. Most of the work remains preclinical, meaning the potential treatments have not yet been tested in humans.

Divergence Labs is developing a treatment that targets immunoglobulin E (IgE), an antibody involved in allergic reactions. Unlike existing treatments that primarily neutralize IgE circulating in the bloodstream, the company aims to detach IgE from immune cells.

Achieving this requires a molecule with two components: one that binds tightly to IgE and another that helps remove it from the immune cell.

Claude translated the company’s research goals into a design plan and generated approximately 35,000 antibody designs over a month, largely autonomously.

Initial laboratory testing identified three designs capable of binding to IgE and 20 that could detach it from immune cells. Three of the latter appeared to remove more IgE than a standard medication, according to Anthropic.

However, the researchers have not yet combined the two functions into a single drug.

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