Pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim and Microsoft have announced a strategic partnership aimed at strengthening clinical development through the use of artificial intelligence (AI), helping to bring safe and effective treatments to patients faster.
At the heart of the partnership, according to the announcement, is an exploration of the potential of Digital Patient Twins, an innovative approach that uses advanced computational models to create digital representations of individual patients. By analysing clinical and other relevant data, these models can predict how a disease may progress and simulate potential treatment outcomes under different scenarios.
The two organisations’ joint research effort will examine applications including modelling disease progression, predicting clinical outcomes and advanced clinical trial simulation. It will also explore how these technologies could support the creation of control groups using existing clinical data.
This innovative approach has the potential to transform clinical trial design by reducing the number of participants needed in control groups, accelerating the generation of scientific evidence and improving the overall efficiency of drug development. The ultimate goal is to give patients faster access to new treatments while enhancing the quality and effectiveness of clinical research.
The partnership will initially focus on respiratory diseases, with the two companies assessing the scientific evidence and technical feasibility of the approach through visualisation, prototyping and the generation of scientific evidence across multiple therapeutic areas.
Dr Lykke Hinsch Gylvin, Chief Medical Officer at Boehringer Ingelheim, said: “Boehringer Ingelheim now has the richest research pipeline in its history, and our goal is to make clinical research even more focused on patients’ unmet needs.
Exploring innovative approaches that harness artificial intelligence and the future potential of Digital Patient Twins could help create more effective, evidence-based and patient-centred clinical studies. This will always be done with the utmost respect for scientific quality, patient safety and regulatory requirements”.
The new partnership is another step in Boehringer Ingelheim’s strategy to make systematic use of artificial intelligence across its business and research ecosystem, in both Human Pharma and Animal Health.
Building on one of the world’s largest deployments of Microsoft Copilot in the pharmaceutical industry, the company is investing systematically in developing digital skills, promoting the responsible use of AI and building secure, scalable technology infrastructure.
Dimitris Anagnostakis, President and Chief Executive Officer of Boehringer Ingelheim Greece, said: “Innovation has long been at the heart of Boehringer Ingelheim’s strategy. Using advanced technologies such as artificial intelligence allows us to explore new ways of developing treatments, with the aim of responding more effectively to patients’ unmet needs.
Our strategic partnership with Microsoft reaffirms our commitment to investing in pioneering solutions that can help shape the future of healthcare, always guided by scientific excellence, safety and the responsible use of technology”.
Beyond clinical development, the partnership also includes initiatives to modernise cybersecurity infrastructure and data centres, with the aim of creating a secure, resilient and technologically advanced environment.
Boehringer Ingelheim aims to become a Frontier AI company in human and animal health, responsibly integrating artificial intelligence across its entire value chain. Building on one of the largest deployments of Microsoft Copilot in the pharmaceutical industry, the company is combining broad employee access to the technology with AI applications tailored to specific roles, skills development, a strong governance framework and secure technology infrastructure.