Google Cloud 'can't wait to see what's next' as Servier extends AI drug R&D pact

Servier is extending its pact with Google Cloud as the French biopharma points to 60 examples of how generative artificial intelligence could improve its drug development processes.

The two companies initially signed a five-year pact in 2022 “aimed at deploying a robust technological structure within the Servier group to secure data and accelerate the deployment of initiatives such as AI.” But only two years in, Servier has already agreed to extend the collaboration for an additional five years.

The upgraded pact will see the drugmaker incorporate Google Cloud’s AI solutions “across our entire value chain,” Virginie Dominguez, executive vice president of digital data and information systems at Servier, said in the Jan. 16 release.

Servier explained that around 60 use cases had been identified of how generative AI can accelerate the development of new drugs—ranging from identifying new therapeutic targets to identifying the evolution of disease and digitizing clinical trials.

To this end, the company has started to provide its employees with tools based on Google Cloud’s AI tech, including its Gemini large language models.

“We are both delighted and impressed by Servier's use of our AI and generative AI technology to accelerate its research and development programs,” Shweta Maniar, global director, healthcare and life sciences, Google Cloud, said in the release.

“Servier is moving quickly from experimentation to production, in a pragmatic way, with a clear priority given to ethics, confidentiality and security,” Maniar added. “This collaboration will lead to new progress in the research and treatment of many diseases in the years to come—we can't wait to see what will come next.”

Servier isn’t the first drug developer to spot a silver lining in Google Cloud. Ginkgo inked its own five-year partnership in 2023, while Israel’s Evogene announced two months ago that it will use Google Cloud’s Vertex AI and the graphics processing units on Google Compute Engine to create an AI foundation model that can create new small molecules.