Stanford's AI Designed a Drug. Merck Agreed.

VB Transform 2026 Highlights How 10,000 agentic “scientists” in Stanford virtual lab are set to revolutionize medical research and discovery: The next era of agentic AI moves beyond single-task assistants to full-scale, autonomous enterprise operations. Dr. James Zou of Stanford will pull back the curtain on his virtual biotech lab running tens of thousands of AI scientist agents simulating a cross-functional drug discovery company. This multi-agent system is designing new therapeutics, with some achieving experimental validation, making the work potentially more effective and efficient than