Bain & Company

AI and the Future of Pharma with Bob Bradway, CEO of Amgen

Bob Bradway, Amgen’s long‑time CEO, discussed how the company has woven artificial intelligence into every stage of drug development, from early target discovery to commercial launch. Amgen’s first AI‑focused move was the 2012 acquisition of Decode, a Icelandic genetics repository, paired with the belief that emerging AI tools would eventually make sense of its massive, longitudinal data set. Bradway highlighted how advances such as DeepMind’s AlphaFold and Amgen’s own NVIDIA super‑pod have transformed protein‑folding predictions, slashing the time needed to select promising molecules and reducing costly late‑stage failures. The firm now applies AI to visual inspection in manufacturing, capacity modeling, and emerging sales‑enablement tools, treating the technology as a cross‑functional accelerator rather than an R&D silo. A recurring theme was the importance of change‑management. In 2013, facing patent expirations, Amgen overhauled its organization, creating a leadership cadre that now shepherds AI adoption. Bradway also flagged quantum‑computing research as a forward‑looking hedge, exploring how quantum algorithms could model protein dynamics beyond classical limits. The interview underscores that Amgen’s early, holistic AI strategy is delivering faster molecule selection, lower development risk, and a competitive edge across the value chain, positioning the company to capitalize on next‑generation computational breakthroughs.