AbbVie and Iambic: Partnering on AI-Powered Drug Discovery

AI drug discovery is one of the most talked-about technological developments in the pharmaceutical sector, with the industry’s largest players partnering with both up-and-coming biotech startups and established tech players as they seek to expedite the identification and design of future medicines. 

In the latest example of this trend, AbbVie has partnered with Iambic, a biotech backed by Nvidia and Qatar’s sovereign wealth fund, on a multi-year collaboration to accelerate small-molecule drug discovery and development.

The partnership will focus on programmes across immunology, neuroscience and oncology, with the companies targeting potential first-in-class and best-in-class medicines.

Iambic also announced that it would file for a US IPO, and plans to use the funds raised to progress three oncology drugs in the early stages of development.

Following the announcement, Iambic CEO and Co-Founder Thomas Miller writes on LinkedIn: “At Iambic, our mission is to make better technology for better medicines – in our own hands and with partners. That’s why we are incredibly proud to announce a new, multi-year collaboration with global pharmaceutical leader AbbVie.

“Together we will apply Iambic’s molecular superintelligence platform toward the discovery of small-molecule programmes with first-in-class and best-in-class potential across therapeutic areas of immunology, neuroscience and oncology.”

Applying AI to molecular design

At the centre of the partnership is Iambic's molecular superintelligence platform, which combines its Enchant and NeuralPLexer technologies.

The platform is designed to address one of the fundamental challenges of small-molecule drug discovery: evaluating and optimising multiple properties of a potential drug candidate at the same time.

Often, scientists will assess a wide range of molecular characteristics individually as they identify and refine potential candidates. Iambic says its platform is designed to optimise these properties simultaneously, helping researchers make more precise decisions about which molecules to pursue.

The partnership will specifically use Enchant v3, Iambic's next-generation multimodal transformer model that was launched on the same day as the AbbVie partnership announcement.

The model brings together biomedical data modalities from across the drug discovery process and is designed to allow multiple drug design hypotheses to be tested in parallel and at scale. 

According to Iambic, Enchant v3 is trained on more than 6,000 molecular properties and is designed to improve prediction accuracy across drug discovery and development.

For AbbVie, the technology is intended to complement the expertise of its existing discovery teams rather than operate independently of them.

"We are excited about the purpose-built AI capabilities Iambic is bringing to our Discovery scientists," says Nicholas Donoghoe, Executive Vice President and Chief Business and Strategy Officer at AbbVie.

"We believe AI will be a powerful catalyst for scientific innovation across AbbVie. By equipping our teams with fit-for-purpose AI solutions, we can accelerate discovery, expand what is possible in R&D and significantly advance our commitment to making a remarkable impact for patients," he continues.

Improving the probability of success

The pharmaceutical industry has invested heavily in AI as researchers seek to improve the efficiency of a traditionally lengthy and costly drug development process.

For AbbVie, the Iambic collaboration will focus on using AI to inform decisions about which molecules progress through discovery.

"Combining Iambic's platform with the drug-hunting expertise of AbbVie scientists can help us make more precise decisions about the molecules we pursue," says Jonathon Sedgwick, Senior Vice President and Global Head of Discovery Research at AbbVie.

"The goal of our collaboration with Iambic is to design better molecules more efficiently and improve our probability of success, ultimately to deliver breakthrough medicines for patients sooner."

The companies will apply the technology across three therapeutic areas, giving the collaboration a broad remit spanning immunology, neuroscience and oncology.

From AI platform to clinical-stage programmes

The collaboration also builds on Iambic's progress in taking AI-enabled drug discovery beyond computational modelling and towards clinical development.

The company's wholly owned programme IAM1363, an investigational therapy targeting HER2-driven cancers, has entered Phase 1 clinical development.

Iambic reported preliminary anti-tumour activity and differentiated tolerability for IAM1363 in Phase 1 data presented at ESMO 2025. These early findings provide clinical context for the company's broader ambition to use its technology platform to generate new drug candidates.

AbbVie - key partners

Genmab

CEO: Dr Jan van de Winkel | HQ: Copenhagen, Denmark

Genmab is a Danish biotech company focused on developing antibody medicines for cancer and other serious diseases. Its long-running partnership with AbbVie has centred on next-generation bispecific antibodies, including epcoritamab, which is marketed as Epkinly in the US. The companies have also collaborated on additional oncology programmes, combining Genmab’s antibody technology with AbbVie’s development and commercial capabilities.

Neomorph

CEO: Philip Chamberlain | HQ: San Diego, California

Neomorph is a US biotechnology company developing molecular glue degraders designed to target previously difficult-to-drug proteins. AbbVie and Neomorph announced a collaboration in January 2025 to discover and develop molecular glue degraders across oncology and immunology. The partnership combines Neomorph’s molecular glue discovery platform with AbbVie’s drug development expertise and therapeutic-area capabilities.