# Science paper details 37,000-agent virtual biotech for drug discovery

_Published Thursday, September 17, 2026 at 8:10 PM EDT · AI, Science · Latest · Tier 2 — Notable_

![Science paper details 37,000-agent virtual biotech for drug discovery — Primary](https://scx2.b-cdn.net/gfx/news/hires/2026/biotech.jpg)

A Stanford Medicine-linked team reported in Science that a virtual biotech of about 37,000 AI agents analyzed some 50,000 clinical trials and designed drug candidates without a physical lab.

Associate professor James Zou and graduate student Harrison Zhang said agents found that drugs aimed at cell-type-specific, switch-like genes were 40% more likely to advance from phase 1 to phase 2, 48% more likely to reach market, and had 32% fewer adverse events. Using information available before January 2025, the agents proposed a B7-H3 antibody-drug conjugate for lung cancer; months later a pharmaceutical company independently pursued the same strategy and later received FDA breakthrough therapy designation.

Zou said the next step is testing new virtual-biotech findings in real laboratories.

## Sources

- [Phys.org](https://phys.org/news/2026-09-virtual-biotech-company-thousands-ai.html)

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Canonical: https://techandbusiness.org/newswire/xUF_pfNZwgEOOM4PXu-hYC
Published: 2026-09-18T00:10:32.999Z
Story chronology: 2026-09-17T18:00:10.000Z
Retrieved: 2026-09-18T09:40:46.373Z
Publisher: Tech & Business (techandbusiness.org)