In the AI industry, 90 percent of drug candidates fail before reaching the market
- Despite billions poured in, only a handful of AI-discovered drugs have hit clinical trials.
- Big Pharma’s 90% failure rate for new meds makes AI’s promises feel like a tough sell.
- Startups are betting big, but experts say we need better data to crack the code.
AI was supposed to revolutionize medicine by spotting new drugs faster than humans ever could. But here’s the buzzkill: after years of hype, we’re still waiting for those blockbuster pills. A recent deep dive reveals why – AI models are great at patterns, but real biology is messy and unpredictable.
If you’re new to AI’s impact on health, think of it like this: AI sifts through mountains of data like a super librarian, but it can’t invent chemistry from scratch yet.
Some bright spots exist, like AI helping design proteins, but scaling to safe, effective drugs? That’s the viral challenge everyone’s talking about right now.
Interested in learning more, read the report by Wired, July 17, 2025.
