Barclays says the recent selloff in life science tools and contract research stocks tied to AI fears is overdone. The brokerage argues that while AI tools can improve tasks like protein structure prediction, laboratory experiments remain essential for testing molecules in complex biological systems.

Shares of several contract research organizations and tool providers have dropped sharply since early February, when new AI tools raised concerns about automation in drug discovery. Barclays says these concerns misread how biomedical research works, noting that gaps in biological knowledge still require direct testing.

The firm expects AI could actually increase wet-lab activity by enabling faster experiment design and earlier molecule screening. This could create a cycle where scientists run more experiments and feed additional data into AI models, raising rather than replacing laboratory work.