❯ Anthropic unveils two experiments, with Claude autonomously designing protein binders at up to 35.1% hit rate

EXPERIMENT 1Anthropic unveiled two experiments; the first had Claude autonomously design protein binders. According to company-disclosed data, 14 of 15 targets were successfully hit, with hit rates of 22.6% to 26.7% in multi-target mode and up to 35.1% in single-target mode, versus the industry norm of 10% to 15%. Of 1,320 designs, 354 were ultimately confirmed as effective binders; for the RBX1 target, Claude posted a 40% hit rate, while participants in the same competition averaged just 3.7%.

TIMESCALEThe timeline is even more striking. Per Anthropic, protein engineers previously needed months for computation, optimization, and screening against a single target; Claude ran the full process in 24 to 48 hours, requiring only human sign-off. Some designs matched or exceeded the best published results in affinity, including structures with β-sheets — a class widely considered harder to design.

EXPERIMENT 2The second covered analytical chemistry. Claude processed NMR and LC-MS data in parallel, taking 23 minutes and 19 minutes, respectively, per the company — completing both within 25 minutes total; hydrogen atom counts differed from lab results by 0.08, and purity was measured at 96.4%, versus a lab value of 96.33%. A chemist doing the same sample by hand would typically spend half an hour to an hour.

NEXTAnthropic said one of its top current priorities is launching an access program for scientists, with details to be announced later. The company previously rolled out Claude Science, a research workbench, at the end of June, with more than 60 built-in capabilities spanning genomics, structural biology, proteomics, and cheminformatics. Drug discovery teams now need to reassess staffing for the pre-wet-lab stretch — with design and screening compressed into two days, the bottleneck shifts entirely to the validation phase.

▪ SIGNALA doubled hit rate is just a bonus; compressing a months-long phase into 48 hours is what truly rewrites R&D timelines.