AbbVie

Overview

AbbVie is a large pharmaceutical company that has built one of the most structured AI business development functions in the industry. Approximately one year before the UNLOCK 2026 panel, AbbVie stood up a dedicated AI BD team and an AI External Opportunities governance committee chaired by the Chief Business Officer with full C-suite representation. The team assesses 400–500 AI companies per year across the full pharmaceutical value chain.

AbbVie has moved aggressively into data partnership structures, announcing two federated learning consortia with several more in the works. On the operational side, AbbVie is targeting a reduction in clinical study startup time from 14 months to 9 months using agentic AI, a workflow spanning 80 substeps and 100+ stakeholders. The company is also exploring physical AI for manufacturing through imitation learning, equipping scientists with cameras to capture bench procedures.