Novo Nordisk and Microsoft Partner to Bring AI to Drug Discovery

Principal Analyst, Advanced Analytics

Summary Bullets:

• The challenge for Microsoft and Novo Nordisk will be to integrate AI and pharma into a process that will bring cheaper medicines faster with less risk.

• Besides Novo Nordisk, Microsoft entered into a similar partnership with UCB in 2021 as part of the COVID Moon Shot project.

Developing a new drug can take over 12 years and cost $2.6 billion or more. The process is as risky as a trip to Las Vegas as nine out of ten potential new therapies fail to become market-ready products. The cost of a failure is paid for by the company, but ramifications go beyond the bottom line and include loss of life and increased costs to healthcare systems. Even with several high-profile failures, the promise of AI represents a substantial opportunity to transform drug development.

IBM Joins Forces with 20 HBCUs to Open Cybersecurity Training Centers

Amy Larsen DeCarlo – Principal Analyst, Security and Data Center Services

Summary Bullets:

• IBM added 14 Historically Black Colleges and Universities (HBCUs) cybersecurity partners as the company looks to help train and certify new industry professionals.

• The initiative is part of IBM’s broader, pro bono effort to foster science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) programs in high schools and colleges.

At the National HBCU Week Conference in Washington DC (US), IBM said it is adding 14 new colleges and university partners to its program announced in May 2022 to train students to become cybersecurity professionals. This brings the total number of IBM’s partners to 20 schools in 11 states.