The head of biomedical research at Novartis spoke to STAT about the use of artificial intelligence (AI), cutting the development pipeline and the potential blockbuster. Novartis is building a new global biomedical research center in San Diego with an area of approximately 466,000 square feet, which will be equipped with AI capabilities and provide space for about 1,000 employees[1]. This center will support end-to-end drug discovery in areas such as neuroscience, oncology, global health and regenerative medicine[1]. It will focus on genetics, human biology and platforms such as gene and cell therapy, RNA therapy and biologics[1]. AI is accelerating key steps in drug discovery, including identifying disease targets, generating compounds and predicting safety[3]. Novartis uses internal databases such as Data42 with data from more than 30 years of clinical and preclinical studies to support AI[3]. The new center will strengthen the research network in San Diego, Cambridge and Basel and is part of a US$23 billion investment in R&D in the US[1].