Key Points

• Anthropic will start a drug discovery program focused on "neglected" diseases.
• The artificial intelligence company announced the effort alongside the announcement of Claude Science, a product designed for drugmakers.
• Big tech companies have long expressed interest in health care.

Anthropic is starting an internal drug discovery program as part of an effort to develop artificial intelligence tools designed for drugmakers, becoming the latest company to try and crack the healthcare market.

At an event in San Francisco on Tuesday, Anthropic's life sciences head Eric Kauderer-Abrams said the company will focus on discovering treatments for "neglected" diseases that traditional biopharmaceutical companies wouldn't consider attractive targets.

"We're doing this because we believe first and foremost that to build the right models, products and tools to accelerate the industry, we need to live it along with all of you," Kauderer-Abrams said. "We believe in the power of tight feedback loops, and there's no substitute for having our own experiences alongside you all in the trenches trying to develop drugs."

Kauderer-Abrams didn't say what Anthropic would do if it finds any promising drug candidates. Traditional biopharmaceutical companies would typically test them in clinical trials.

An Anthropic spokesperson told CNBC that as a public benefit company, "we can choose programs on patient benefit, including work the commercial market overlooks."

"We're at the start of this, and we'll share more as the work progresses." the spokesperson said.

Tech giants have long taken aim at healthcare, though with mixed results. Alphabet and Apple have jumped into the market in various ways, and Amazon has built a business in healthcare through its acquisitions of One Medical and PillPack, now housed in a division called Amazon Health Services.

Kauderer-Abrams and other Anthropic leaders positioned Anthropic's effort as a way to work alongside the drugmakers it's trying to court for its new Claude Science product. Jonah Cool, Anthropic's head of life sciences partnerships, said Anthropic's goal is to focus on neglected diseases as it creates and sells AI tools for life sciences companies.