Medidata, BioRender Announce New AI Partnerships Expanding Capabilities in Life Sciences

The clinical research industry continues to see increased integration of artificial intelligence (AI). On October 23, Medidata and BioRender announced major partnership moves intended to expand their AI footprints in life sciences workflows.

Medidata expands AI partnership with Sanofi

Medidata will be expanding its long-standing partnership with Sanofi, now leveraging Medidata Patient, Data, and Study Experiences within the collaboration. The ecosystem of tools aims to address standalone life sciences solutions by offering an AI-embedded, platform-based user experience.¹

In a press release, Gaelan Ritter, global head of digital clinical development, Sanofi, said: “Sanofi and Medidata have worked together for a decade within clinical research, including a collaboration in 2024. With this broadened relationship, we will continue harnessing the power of AI, optimizing our clinical trials, and ultimately expediting the delivery of groundbreaking medicines.”

As part of the agreement, Sanofi will utilize Medidata’s tools and expertise in decentralized clinical trials.

Lisa Moneymaker, chief strategy officer, Medidata, added: “Clinical development is complex, and biopharma companies demand a strategic partner who can help them enhance data quality, improve study design, and elevate patient care. Through our alliance, Sanofi can leverage our unified solutions, specifically mapped out to meet their core needs, to simplify execution and accelerate the entire clinical development process.”

BioRender partners with Anthropic to power AI-driven scientific visuals

Meanwhile, BioRender announced a new strategic partnership with Anthropic to integrate its library of scientifically accurate icons and templates into Claude for Life Sciences.²

Anthropic launched Claude for Life Sciences just days before it partnered with BioRender. The specialized AI offering marks Anthropic’s first formal entry into the life sciences space. Claude integrates with commonly used tools such as Benchling, PubMed, and 10x Genomics, and can handle tasks ranging from literature reviews to regulatory submissions.³

BioRender’s platform embeds visual tools directly into AI workflows, providing researchers with generated figures that help them comprehend and clearly communicate discoveries.

In a press release, BioRender CEO Shiz Aoki, said: "We are proud to be powering the visual communication needs of scientists using Claude for Life Sciences. For years, we've watched scientists struggle to render complex mechanisms, spending hours wrestling with design software or waiting days for illustrations. Now, with AI that might enable discoveries to happen at ten times the speed, effective visual communication is more vital than ever.”

Directly within Claude, researchers will now be able to generate figure suggestions for slide decks, grant and funding applications, and publication.

Aoki continued: “We're building the infrastructure that prevents human comprehension from becoming the rate-limiting step in humanity's most important decade. Major scientific breakthroughs are increasingly multi-disciplinary. When immunologists, computational biologists, and clinicians can all look at the same visual and immediately understand what they're seeing, scientific discovery accelerates.”

Balancing innovation and caution in AI adoption

Earlier in September, Lyn Mursalo, freelance clinical research professional, shared her thoughts on the integration of AI into clinical research in an exclusive Q&A with Applied Clinical Trials. While there is certainly reason for optimism, the industry should remain cautious about what AI is used for.

She explained: “I believe that AI will revolutionize how we design, run, and analyze trials. Generative AI tools are capable of outlining draft protocol or informed consent templates based on public databases. Data review, safety signal detection, and even patient engagement will also become faster and smarter with AI. That said, we must constantly re-evaluate what roles must remain human driven, especially those that rely on judgment and empathy.”

References

1. Sanofi Deepens Partnership with Medidata to Expedite the Development of New Therapies with an Improved Patient Journey. News release. Medidata. October 23, 2025. Accessed October 24, 2025. https://www.medidata.com/en/about-us/news-and-press/sanofi-deepens-partnership-with-medidata-to-expedite-the-development-of-new-therapies-with-an-improved-patient-journey/

2. BioRender and Anthropic Partner To Bring Scientific Illustrations to Claude For Life Sciences. News release. BioRender. October 23, 2025. Accessed October 24, 2025. https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20251023858531/en/BioRender-and-Anthropic-Partner-To-Bring-Scientific-Illustrations-to-Claude-For-Life-Sciences

3. Anthropic launches Claude Life Sciences for research boost. The Tech Buzz. October 20, 2025. Accessed October 24, 2025. https://www.techbuzz.ai/articles/anthropic-launches-claude-life-sciences-for-research-boost