Anthropic and OpenEvidence will give clinicians in around 100 low- and middle-income countries free access to a specialized version of the OpenEvidence medical platform. The initial list includes Uganda, Angola, Sudan, Haiti and Mongolia. In the United States, clinicians used the system 42 million times in August. The project will show whether a tool built on research from wealthy countries can be useful where access to journals and treatment options is limited.
How the free access program will work
The program extends a model that is already free for clinicians in the United States and Europe to regions with limited access to medical literature. Reuters reported the plan based on information provided by OpenEvidence. Financial terms of the cooperation between the two companies were not disclosed. Under the division of roles, Anthropic provides the backend technology, while OpenEvidence adapts the system to healthcare needs in each region. That adaptation, rather than simple translation, is presented as the core of the rollout to around 100 countries.
OpenEvidence answers doctors' clinical questions using peer-reviewed research and treatment guidelines. For the new regions, the plan is to adjust the system to local disease patterns, diagnostic resources and available treatments. This year OpenEvidence has worked with health organizations in Rwanda and Botswana on that adjustment. In Rwanda, the project with the Rwanda Biomedical Center and Resolve to Save Lives involved 45 local doctors and nurses who tested the tool and gave feedback on changes. Founder Daniel Nadler said 100 percent of what the company is developing for these areas is designed to be context adaptive.
Critics of medical AI warn that systems trained mainly on data from high-income countries may not reflect how medicine is practiced elsewhere. That concern explains the focus on country-by-country adaptation. Nadler argues that delivery is feasible because most doctors have smartphones even where clinics do not have reliable electricity. The access problem was described by Dr Ahmed Bendary, a cardiologist at Benha University in Egypt, who said expansion beyond the United States and Europe matters especially where access to major journals is limited. The initiative follows Anthropic's wider move into life sciences, including a laboratory for physical biology as it expands into drug science.
What the expansion means for healthcare business
For clinics and hospitals, the practical change is free access to structured clinical evidence where journal subscriptions were missing. A small practice can check guidelines and research without a separate license, which reduces delays in treatment decisions. Larger networks and aid organizations working across borders get a common reference tool, but value appears only after local adaptation. Without alignment to national protocols and drug lists, staff will still need to double-check recommendations before use in routine care.
The main risk is assuming that availability equals suitability for a specific country. Administrators should ask which treatment guidelines are included, how local drug availability is reflected, and how often country versions are updated. They should also ask how tester feedback is collected beyond the initial group of 45 clinicians in Rwanda. Anthropic president Daniela Amodei said market incentives alone would not have produced the project and described a philanthropic element, which leaves open how long-term maintenance will be funded. The announcement does not by itself demonstrate accuracy in each of the 100 countries.
The test will be whether announced access turns into documented adaptation in each country, with local partners and clinician testing as in Rwanda. Progress in Botswana and other early sites, including adjustments to content and coverage, would signal a replicable model. For healthcare businesses, that distinction determines whether the tool can support protocols or remain a background reference.
