Bristol Myers Squibb buys Nvidia's latest AI supercomputers for drug discovery

Bristol Myers Squibb (BMS) has bought Nvidia's latest DGX SuperPOD supercomputers based on the Vera Rubin architecture, becoming the first life sciences company to use this system. It's the newest AI computing platform from Nvidia, about two to three generations ahead of BMS's current setup.

BMS's chief R&D officer Robert Plenge says the new platform will let them test dozens of drug candidates at once in early-stage research, up from about 10 before. The company already uses AI to cut drug preparation time for clinical trials by 20-30%, and expects that to reach 50% in coming years.

Chief digital and technology officer Greg Meyers says growing AI models need more computing power. BMS now uses AI in all small-molecule and most large-molecule drug projects. The new system is also much more energy-efficient, delivering about 10 times the computing power per watt. One experimental sickle cell disease therapy was discovered thanks to AI, and might have been missed otherwise.