Novo Nordisk and AWS have launched a London co-innovation hub using AI and cloud technologies to accelerate drug discovery and development.

London hub targets drug discovery

Novo Nordisk and Amazon Web Services (AWS) have entered a strategic partnership to use artificial intelligence and cloud technologies across drug discovery and the development of new medicines.

The companies have established a co-innovation hub at Novo Nordisk’s existing London facility, bringing together AWS engineers, AI specialists and applied scientists with Novo Nordisk research and development teams.

The aim is to use AI alongside Novo Nordisk’s scientific data and expertise to shorten the path from identifying a drug target to the first dose in humans.

The partnership also makes AWS Novo Nordisk’s preferred cloud provider and strategic AI partner, as the pharmaceutical company looks to modernise its technology infrastructure and expand its use of AI across research and operations.

Novo Nordisk president and CEO Mike Doustdar said: “Partnering with AWS is about making AI a driver of innovation across Novo Nordisk.”

He added that the London hub would combine the companies’ scientific and technology capabilities to develop AI solutions intended to support the development of new medicines for people living with serious chronic diseases.

AI connects research and clinical data

The companies said the partnership will include the use of AI to identify drug targets, design potential therapies and connect different types of research and clinical data.

These datasets include genomic, imaging and clinical information, potentially allowing findings from early research to inform the design of clinical trials.

Novo Nordisk said it has already seen results from its collaboration with AWS, including reduced time spent on clinical documentation and increased productivity among more than 25,000 employees.

The expanded partnership will also use Amazon Bedrock and Amazon Bio Discovery, alongside other AWS AI services, in drug discovery. Novo Nordisk plans to use Amazon Bedrock AgentCore to develop AI agents for operational tasks.

The companies said the technology will provide secure and scalable infrastructure for processing complex datasets and applying AI across different therapeutic areas.

The focus on connecting research data with clinical development is particularly relevant to drug discovery, where pharmaceutical companies are increasingly looking at AI to analyse large datasets, identify potential targets and support decisions about which compounds should progress into development.

Agentic AI moves beyond research

The partnership also extends AI beyond laboratory research and into Novo Nordisk’s wider operations.

AWS CEO Matt Garman said: “Every part of our work with Novo Nordisk comes back to one thing: getting the right medicine to patients, faster.”

He added that the companies would use AI technologies and scientific expertise to support drug discovery, process complex datasets and scale findings across therapeutic areas.

The agreement builds on an existing relationship between the two companies. Novo Nordisk has previously worked with AWS on AI and cloud-based technologies, including tools intended to improve productivity and support healthcare and research activities.

The new agreement takes that relationship further by creating a dedicated physical hub where technology specialists and pharmaceutical researchers can work together on AI applications.

For the pharmaceutical sector, the partnership reflects the growing move towards using AI throughout the drug development process rather than restricting it to individual research applications.

The London hub will provide a dedicated environment for Novo Nordisk and AWS teams to develop and test these applications, with the companies aiming to translate improvements in data analysis and productivity into faster development of future medicines.