The Promise
Pharma spends billions on R&D only to see 90% of drug candidates fail in trials. At the heart of the problem: chemistry is a quantum system, but we’ve been simulating it with classical approximations. Quantum computing, in principle, can simulate molecules and protein folding with physics-native precision, potentially cutting years and billions from discovery pipelines.
The Reality
We are not about to quantum-simulate an entire antibody. Today’s quantum machines remain noisy, small, and fragile. The most credible progress has come from hybrid models, where quantum handles a computational bottleneck and classical HPC does the rest. For example:
- Cleveland Clinic & IBM: Predicted Zika virus protein fragments more accurately than AlphaFold using a hybrid quantum-classical framework (Cleveland Clinic).
- Japan Tobacco & D-Wave: Used quantum annealing to train generative AI, producing more “drug-like” molecules than classical methods (MedPath).
- Biogen & Accenture: Quantum-enabled molecular comparison delivered richer structural insights than classical screening (Accenture).
Each success is narrow, but collectively they show a pragmatic pattern: don’t replace classical, augment it.
The European Edge
Europe is well-positioned. Startups like Pasqal (France) are already running protein hydration analyses on neutral-atom quantum computers (Qubit Pharmaceuticals). The Quantum Technologies Flagship (€1bn over 10 years) funds such projects (EU Commission). Combined with Horizon Europe grants and EuroHPC’s hybrid supercomputers, pharma here has access to sovereign infrastructure and public co-funding that US peers often lack.
Strategic Takeaway
For European pharma and biotech:
- Think long-term: validated drug design use cases are 5–15 years out (Roche).
- Back hybrids: near-term ROI lies in workflows where quantum complements AI, not replaces it.
- Partner early: collaborations with quantum startups and HPC centres are essential to de-risk.
Quantum won’t cure R&D inefficiency overnight. But when 9 in 10 candidates still fail, even a narrow, validated quantum edge could mean the difference between another failed trial and Europe’s next blockbuster drug.
This content has been enhanced with GenAI tools.
