How Orion Pharma evaluates more drug targets, faster, with Elicit
Challenge
Assessing drug targets requires reviewing hundreds of papers per target, making literature evaluation difficult to scale.
Challenge
Assessing drug targets requires reviewing hundreds of papers per target, making literature evaluation difficult to scale.
Solution
Orion Pharma uses Elicit to rapidly synthesize evidence from hundreds of papers into structured, traceable insights.
Results
Literature searches that once took days now take under an hour, helping Orion Pharma evaluate more targets with the same team.
About
Orion Pharma is Finland's leading pharmaceutical company, research-led and globally operating, with products in more than 100 countries.
At Orion Pharma, machine learning and AI support the earliest stages of drug discovery, helping scientists assess which targets and compounds are worth pursuing. These early go/no-go decisions shape the direction of future research and development, making access to comprehensive and reliable evidence an important part of the discovery process.
Orion Pharma uses Elicit to analyze literature at scale, helping scientists evaluate more drug targets faster and make better-informed decisions throughout early discovery.
About
Orion Pharma is Finland's leading pharmaceutical company, research-led and globally operating, with products in more than 100 countries.
At Orion Pharma, machine learning and AI support the earliest stages of drug discovery, helping scientists assess which targets and compounds are worth pursuing. These early go/no-go decisions shape the direction of future research and development, making access to comprehensive and reliable evidence an important part of the discovery process.
Orion Pharma uses Elicit to analyze literature at scale, helping scientists evaluate more drug targets faster and make better-informed decisions throughout early discovery.
Before Elicit: Literature Volume Created a Bottleneck
Much of Orion Pharma's discovery work begins with understanding the scientific literature. Before a project starts, scientists evaluate candidate targets against large volumes of published research to determine whether they are worth pursuing. With many targets to assess and hundreds of papers behind each one, the amount of information can quickly exceed what a team can review manually.
These early decisions influence significant downstream research effort, making a thorough understanding of the evidence essential. For Serhii Vakal, Lead ML/AI Scientist in Orion Pharma's Molecular Intelligence and Data unit within Medicine Design, building AI capabilities internally is part of Orion Pharma's broader R&D strategy.
"As an innovative company, Orion Pharma keeps up with developments in the field, and the industry is increasing its use of AI," Serhii says. For Orion Pharma, the opportunity is to apply these capabilities where they can help scientists navigate complex information and make better-informed decisions earlier in the discovery process.
Before Elicit: Literature Volume Created a Bottleneck
Much of Orion Pharma's discovery work begins with understanding the scientific literature. Before a project starts, scientists evaluate candidate targets against large volumes of published research to determine whether they are worth pursuing. With many targets to assess and hundreds of papers behind each one, the amount of information can quickly exceed what a team can review manually.
These early decisions influence significant downstream research effort, making a thorough understanding of the evidence essential. For Serhii Vakal, Lead ML/AI Scientist in Orion Pharma's Molecular Intelligence and Data unit within Medicine Design, building AI capabilities internally is part of Orion Pharma's broader R&D strategy.
"As an innovative company, Orion Pharma keeps up with developments in the field, and the industry is increasing its use of AI," Serhii says. For Orion Pharma, the opportunity is to apply these capabilities where they can help scientists navigate complex information and make better-informed decisions earlier in the discovery process.
Choosing Elicit: Structured Extraction at Scale
One of the first workflows Serhii explored with Elicit was structured data extraction, a core capability within Elicit's Systematic Literature Review workflow. For Orion Pharma, the challenge was not only finding relevant papers, but efficiently extracting and organizing information from large bodies of literature in a way that scientists could use to compare evidence and evaluate opportunities.
On one project, Orion Pharma wanted to explore the literature broadly to identify promising compound classes. "We take a step back and really dig into the literature," Serhii explains. The team defined the groups of molecules they wanted to investigate, searched across the literature, and scored the results into a ranked table of candidates.
The workflow that once required extensive manual extraction could now be completed in minutes. "Instead of going step by step through each paper, extracting data manually, now we can do it in a few minutes," he says. "That saves a considerable amount of work."
Choosing Elicit: Structured Extraction at Scale
One of the first workflows Serhii explored with Elicit was structured data extraction, a core capability within Elicit's Systematic Literature Review workflow. For Orion Pharma, the challenge was not only finding relevant papers, but efficiently extracting and organizing information from large bodies of literature in a way that scientists could use to compare evidence and evaluate opportunities.
On one project, Orion Pharma wanted to explore the literature broadly to identify promising compound classes. "We take a step back and really dig into the literature," Serhii explains. The team defined the groups of molecules they wanted to investigate, searched across the literature, and scored the results into a ranked table of candidates.
The workflow that once required extensive manual extraction could now be completed in minutes. "Instead of going step by step through each paper, extracting data manually, now we can do it in a few minutes," he says. "That saves a considerable amount of work."
Today: A Broader Research Workflow with Elicit
Since adopting Elicit, Orion Pharma's use of the platform has expanded beyond structured data extraction. What started as a way to analyze large bodies of literature more efficiently has become part of how Serhii approaches research questions from the beginning of a project.
The Elicit Research Agent has become Serhii's preferred starting point when exploring new topics. "This is now my favorite mode, and the first part of Elicit I turn to at project initiation," he says. "Its's faster, and you can easily add more questions after the initial search has been completed."
This has changed how Orion Pharma approaches research in areas where the questions are broader and the information landscape is constantly evolving. Rather than defining every search upfront and manually combining findings from different sources, Serhii can begin with a research question, explore the initial evidence, and continue refining the investigation as new questions emerge.
Today: A Broader Research Workflow with Elicit
Since adopting Elicit, Orion Pharma's use of the platform has expanded beyond structured data extraction. What started as a way to analyze large bodies of literature more efficiently has become part of how Serhii approaches research questions from the beginning of a project.
The Elicit Research Agent has become Serhii's preferred starting point when exploring new topics. "This is now my favorite mode, and the first part of Elicit I turn to at project initiation," he says. "Its's faster, and you can easily add more questions after the initial search has been completed."
This has changed how Orion Pharma approaches research in areas where the questions are broader and the information landscape is constantly evolving. Rather than defining every search upfront and manually combining findings from different sources, Serhii can begin with a research question, explore the initial evidence, and continue refining the investigation as new questions emerge.
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The market is saturated with platforms that can do basic literature analysis, including open-source tools. But the competitive advantage of Elicit is the scale at which you can conduct extremely precise structured data extraction.
Future: Continuing to Evolve with Orion Pharma's Research Needs
Beyond any individual workflow, Serhii values Elicit's continued development and the team's responsiveness to how researchers work. "I really enjoy that you're improving the tool all the time, and that you're listening to what companies like Orion Pharma are looking for," he says. "The Research Agent: we didn't have it at first, and since its release it's become a major component of my work."
As Orion Pharma's research needs continue to evolve, Serhii sees Elicit as a partner that continues to adapt alongside its scientists. The ability to incorporate new workflows and capabilities over time has helped Elicit become an increasingly important part of Orion Pharma's research process.
Future: Continuing to Evolve with Orion Pharma's Research Needs
Beyond any individual workflow, Serhii values Elicit's continued development and the team's responsiveness to how researchers work. "I really enjoy that you're improving the tool all the time, and that you're listening to what companies like Orion Pharma are looking for," he says. "The Research Agent: we didn't have it at first, and since its release it's become a major component of my work."
As Orion Pharma's research needs continue to evolve, Serhii sees Elicit as a partner that continues to adapt alongside its scientists. The ability to incorporate new workflows and capabilities over time has helped Elicit become an increasingly important part of Orion Pharma's research process.
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About
Industry
Pharma
Company size
2K–10K
Founded
1917
Headquarted
Espoo, Finland