(NVDA), (AMZN), (IBM), (GOOGL), (AMGN), (NVO)
Turns out, the key to unlocking Alzheimer's or even finding the cure for cancer might actually be hiding in the same tech that powers Call of Duty. Today, let me tell you the story of how Nvidia (NVDA), the once video game-obsessed tech giant, is rewriting the rules in the healthcare sandbox.
You’ve seen others take a swing at it — Amazon (AMZN) tried to cut costs, IBM (IBM) had a good run until Watson Health scrambled, and Alphabet’s (GOOGL) big dreams with Verily and Calico are still, well, just dreams.
But Nvidia? They’re not playing by the old pharma rules. Their leap from gaming to drug discovery with AI is calculated, not lucky.
Remember the GPU? Back in 1999, these were the darlings of the gaming world.
Fast forward a bit, and Nvidia’s launching CUDA in 2006 — a software language that turned these GPUs from gaming gadgets into something your local biotech's drooling over.
Suddenly, you could use GPUs to tackle way more than exploding aliens.
But here's where it gets even crazier. Nvidia noticed those fancy new chips were getting a lot of use from scientists — not hardcore gamers. They worked like translators, turning the messy language of biology into something computers could understand.
This opened up a whole new world for drug discovery. These folks were using them to figure out how tiny molecules and proteins dance around, unlocking secrets of diseases and potential cures.
Then, in 2010, Nvidia invited a big-shot biophysicist, Klaus Schulten, to one of their developer conferences.
Picture a room full of gamers suddenly getting a crash course in wriggly 3D molecules. Schulten blew minds showing how these simulations could help crack how viruses like Swine Flu work. But there was a catch – the tech was crazy expensive and tough to use.
Nvidia’s big "aha!" moment came rolling in when Google’s DeepMind showed off AlphaFold in 2018, predicting how proteins fold more accurately than a seasoned origami master.
Sure, Nvidia had been dipping their toes in biology for years – molecular stuff, gene sequencing, fancy microscopes – the usual science nerd fare. But AlphaFold was next level.
Imagine turning boring strings of amino acids into super-accurate 3D protein models.
So, Nvidia took Google’s breakthrough as a green light, and they weren't about to slow down. They punched the gas pedal with BioNeMo in 2022, which is basically a treasure chest of AI models that can whip up new drugs in the time it takes to brew your morning coffee.
BioNeMo, a software powerhouse packed with AI models, even AlphaFold itself, was used for simulating how molecules fit together like puzzle pieces, programs to create brand new molecules, and AI that can predict how tightly a drug binds to its target – this was a geek's dream come true.
By then, over 100 drug companies signed up in a flash, and Nvidia knew it was just the beginning.
Leading this charge is Nvidia’s CEO, Jensen Huang, who might as well be the pitchman of the future — a future where biology is fully digitized. He’s the guy in the leather jacket at the science fair, convincing all the big pharma kids to try out his shiny tech toys. And it’s working.
Now, Nvidia isn’t just selling chips anymore. They’re selling digitized biology that could be the golden ticket to curing, well, just about anything.
Still, not everyone’s buying the glossy brochure. Some seasoned biotech vets whisper about Nvidia simplifying the complex dance of biology just to push product.
But then you’ve got folks like Sean McClain over at Absci (ABSI) saying if it weren’t for Nvidia, AI in healthcare would be stuck at the starting line.
According to McClain and others who have embraced Nvidia’s technology, AI isn’t just a nice-to-have. It has become essential for future breakthroughs in healthcare.
So, which part of the biotech and healthcare industry is Nvidia focusing on the most these days?
Well, Nvidia's betting the farm on AI transforming drug discovery from a sort of high-stakes casino game (where most bets are losers) into a more predictable endeavor.
After all, Nvidia's still all about those super-powerful chips. They're building custom supercomputers for giants like Novo Nordisk (NVO) and Amgen (AMGN), tapping into their massive DNA databases.
But here's the thing: it's their software that really puts that power to work in drug discovery. This is where Nvidia’s making serious moves. Basically, their engineers optimize and fine-tune those AI models into pharma-friendly tools.
And Nvidia's latest trick? Microservices – ready-to-go AI models priced for serious buyers.
So far, these things are priced at $4,500 per GPU per year or $1 per GPU per hour. That means if you need to use them for an hour, a year, or whatever – Nvidia's got you covered.
Essentially, you get instant AI for drug discovery, no tech PhD required. Nvidia’s experts crunch the numbers and let pharma focus on what they do best.
Despite the eye rolls from the old guard calling this wildly optimistic, or "hopelessly naive," there’s tangible excitement about what AI can really do.
Given everything Nvidia has accomplished to date, it’s clear that Huang’s not just making idle chit-chat. He’s laying down a vision of a world where designing drugs is as error-free as drafting up the next smartphone.
High hopes? Sure. But with companies like Amgen seeing real results — boosting their clinical trial success rates and cutting down research timelines — there might just be something to all this talk.
And let’s face it, with Nvidia's muscle in AI, even if you're not buying what Huang’s selling, you've got to admit, the guy’s onto something. The healthcare industry might just be standing on the edge of a revolution, looking down at a future where AI is as common in a lab as a petri dish.
