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AI in Healthcare

Sep 23, 2026

AI in Healthcare

The Gist

Mayo Clinic and Thermo Fisher are launching a joint AI diagnostics company, while AbbVie has signed a multi-year deal to use Iambic's AI drug-discovery models and Anthropic is building its own biology lab in San Francisco. Aaron Edsinger will also bring Stretch 4 to the Disrupt 2026 stage. AI is now moving from pilot projects into the core infrastructure of hospitals, pharma pipelines, and robotics.

Today's Stories

  1. 1

    Mayo Clinic, Thermo Fisher launch AI diagnostics company

    Mayo Clinic and Thermo Fisher Scientific launched a new AI-supported diagnostics company, bringing the two organizations together in a joint venture. This signals a notable tie-up between a major health system and a life-science tools supplier to develop AI-supported diagnostic offerings.

    Details such as the company's name, ownership structure, and product roadmap are not yet public, so the venture's scope remains to be seen.

  2. 2

    Aaron Edsinger brings Stretch 4 to Disrupt 2026 stage

    Hello Robot CEO and co-founder Aaron Edsinger will demo Stretch 4 live on the Real World AI Stage at TechCrunch Disrupt 2026, running October 13–15 at Moscone West in San Francisco. The robot is built for people with severe mobility impairments, who use Stretch technology to feed themselves, close blinds, and scratch an itch. That is a different measure of progress from a demo video.

    Whether a compact robot on wheels with one telescoping arm can prove useful where robots and people share the same space, a contrast to the industry's humanoid focus. Watch the September 25 ticket deadline.

  3. 3

    Anthropic builds biology lab in San Francisco

    According to Reuters, Anthropic is building a biology laboratory in the San Francisco area, where Claude will direct robots to conduct experiments with minimal human involvement. Anthropic says human oversight is still necessary for safety, and the lab effort goes beyond computer simulations.

    Anthropic will not run its own clinical trials for now, to avoid encroaching on pharmaceutical companies' territory. The effort builds on an April move.

  4. 4

    AbbVie signs on to Iambic AI drug discovery model

    AbbVie has signed on to Iambic's new AI drug discovery model, according to a report by FirstWord Pharma. The deal suggests a major pharmaceutical company sees value in using Iambic's AI model to help discover drugs, though the terms and scope are not yet known.

    Whether the collaboration produces any drug candidates, and whether other pharma companies follow with similar agreements.

  5. 5

    AbbVie, Iambic in multi-year AI drug discovery pact

    AbbVie and Iambic announced a multi-year collaboration to accelerate small molecule drug discovery across immunology, neuroscience and oncology, using Iambic's AI platform and Enchant v3, trained on over 6,000 molecular properties. AbbVie's discovery scientists get purpose-built AI tools intended to evaluate many candidate properties at once, which the companies say may improve success rates and shorten drug discovery timelines.

    The partners are targeting first-in-class and best-in-class molecules, so the test is whether simultaneous property optimization yields better candidates than traditional, one-property-at-a-time evaluation.

  6. 6

    Iambic, AbbVie partner on AI drug discovery

    Iambic and AbbVie have partnered on AI drug discovery, a collaboration reported by MobiHealthNews. The tie-up pairs AbbVie, an established drugmaker, with Iambic's AI-driven discovery approach, suggesting larger pharma players are turning to AI for early-stage research.

    Whether the partners disclose deal terms, targets, or timelines that clarify how the collaboration will work in practice.

What to Watch

Whether Anthropic’s new pharma collaboration actually produces drug candidates—and whether other drugmakers sign similar deals—will show if this approach spreads, while questions remain about how the partnership works in practice, including deal terms, targets, and timelines. Also watch the September 25 ticket deadline for a compact wheeled robot with one telescoping arm, which will test whether such a design proves useful in spaces shared by robots and people, in contrast to the industry’s humanoid robots.

Sources

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