Artificial intelligence company Anthropic has appointed Vas Narasimhan, the chief executive of Novartis, to its board of directors in a move that signals its growing ambitions in the healthcare space.
Narasimhan’s appointment brings a fresh perspective from the pharmaceutical industry, marking a step towards combining advanced AI capabilities with real-world healthcare applications. His experience leading one of the world’s largest drugmakers is expected to help Anthropic better understand how its technology can be used in areas such as drug discovery, clinical research, and patient care.
The development comes at a time when Anthropic is expanding beyond building AI models to focusing on practical use cases. The company, known for its Claude chatbot, has been exploring ways to apply AI in life sciences, where it can help speed up the development of new medicines and improve the efficiency of clinical trials.
Bringing Narasimhan onto the board is also seen as a strategic move as Anthropic prepares for its next phase of growth, including a potential initial public offering (IPO). Strengthening its leadership with industry experts is likely aimed at building credibility and ensuring the company can navigate complex, highly regulated sectors like healthcare.
Narasimhan’s background in managing global healthcare operations and working within strict regulatory frameworks is expected to play a key role in guiding Anthropic’s approach to responsible AI use. As AI becomes more deeply integrated into sensitive industries, having domain expertise at the board level is increasingly important.
The appointment reflects a broader trend where technology companies are collaborating more closely with traditional industries to unlock new opportunities. In healthcare, especially, AI is being seen as a powerful tool to reduce costs, speed up innovation, and improve outcomes.