ChatGPT to Aid New Drug Development... OpenAI-Moderna Partnership Established

Distribution of 'ChatGPT Enterprise' for Moderna
Utilized for optimal dosage prediction in clinical trial drugs
Aiming to achieve early launch of 15 new drugs within 5 years

Generative artificial intelligence (AI) ChatGPT is set to support new drug development at Moderna, a company renowned for its COVID-19 vaccine.

OpenAI, the developer of ChatGPT, and pharmaceutical company Moderna announced on the 24th (local time) that they have formed a partnership for business process automation. However, the specific terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

Based on this partnership, approximately 3,000 Moderna employees will be able to use OpenAI’s ‘ChatGPT Enterprise.’ ChatGPT Enterprise is a corporate AI model built on OpenAI’s latest language model, GPT-4.

Stefan Bancel, CEO of Moderna, stated, "Moderna is taking on various fields from disease prevention to cancer treatment by leveraging the messenger RNA (genetic material that instructs the body on how to make proteins) platform in line with the post-COVID era," adding, "The partnership with OpenAI and the use of AI will be a crucial key to innovating all business processes."

Sam Altman, CEO of OpenAI, explained, "Ultimately, AI will be able to perform more and more science," and added, "To achieve this, it is essential to enhance people’s productivity and reduce their working hours." OpenAI plans to provide dedicated support to Moderna’s research and product teams through this collaboration, while discussing progress weekly and establishing future plans with Moderna.

Moderna revealed that its employees have already developed over 750 customized GPT programs using ChatGPT. Some of these are used to predict the optimal dosage of drugs required for clinical trials based on years of prior research and medical knowledge.

Another program drafts responses to regulatory authorities’ questions based on numerous studies. The company explained that this reduces the time required to prepare responses from several weeks to just a few minutes.

In particular, the GPT programs used in drug manufacturing reportedly help predict new enzyme structures that reduce defect rates. Moderna said, "We expect AI to help us achieve our goal of launching 15 new products within the next five years ahead of schedule."

Meanwhile, on the New York Stock Exchange today, Moderna’s stock closed at $108.85, up 0.89% from the previous session.