New Approach Methodologies (NAMs) for drug development are transforming biomedical research by replacing or complementing animal models. More than 90% of experimental compounds fail in clinical trials, underscoring the need for strategies that better capture human biology. Many of these techniques were showcased at the 2026 American Association for Cancer Research (AACR) annual meeting.

Researchers in the U.K. have developed an AI-driven method of identifying viruses in wild animals with the potential to spillover into humans. The technique makes it possible to use the genome sequences of the spike proteins by which viruses enter host cells to assess the potential to infect humans without having to isolate an individual virus and tests its infectivity in the lab.

Amazon is extending the reach of its “everything store” into drug R&D with the launch of an artificial intelligence-powered Bio Discovery business. The company has compiled a catalogue of 40-plus foundation models that have been trained on extensive biology datasets and are able to generate and evaluate drug molecules in silico. For now, this covers antibodies only, but it is intended to move into other modalities.