CRO

Novartis makes investment in AI firm Yseop for clinical trial writing

Novartis has joined the likes of Eli Lilly and others by investing in the AI technology developer Yseop as part of a push to automate elements of clinical trial report writing that could speed drug development efforts.

Neither the dollar amount nor other details of the investment were disclosed. Other investors include NextStage Am and Wille Finance, the company said in a Dec. 7 press release.

“Our investors and clients understand the value Yseop brings by automating various aspects of medical writing and how impactful Generative AI capabilities can be when applied across all of life sciences,” Emmanuel Walckenaer, Yseop’s chief executive, said in the release. “This further strategic investment adds significant value to Yseop as we look to build out our Generative AI technology and scale it across pharma content development.” 

The Paris-based company uses a natural language processing system to speed up its clinical study submission processes by analyzing data and automating the production of key documentation. Yseop boasts involvement in more than 150 clinical trials across the leading pharmaceutical companies in the world.

In 2022, Yseop inked a deal with Sanofi providing for a subscription fee for use of the AI technology, with the subscription linked to the number of submissions performed every year. The two started working together in 2017.