Formation Bio looks to build out AI and bring in more drugs with fresh $372M

2024-06-26

On the hunt for new clinical assets, Formation Bio raised a $372-million series D on Wednesday that will enable it to add more programmes to its portfolio and speed them through development quickly with its AI platform.

The megaround, led by a16z and Sanofi, comes shortly after the AI-focused drug firm first partnered with the French pharma, along with OpenAI, to combine data, software, and tuned models to create tailored solutions in drug development.

OpenAI CEO Sam Altman’s ties to Formation go further back – he first invested in the company’s $156-million series C in 2021, along with Lachy Groom, the former head of Stripe Issuing. Groom also participated in Wednesday’s round with other existing investors Sequoia, Thrive, and Emerson Collective, plus new investors SV Angel Growth and FPV Ventures.

Automation integration

Along with acquiring or in-licensing clinical-stage assets from biotechs or pharmas, Formation plans to leverage the new funding to build out its AI technologies to overcome what it says is the biggest bottleneck in drug development – the length and expense of clinical trials.

The company said its AI technologies can streamline study startup, participant recruitment, data management, database lock, and study close out.

Additionally, Formation plans to use large language models (LLMs) to automate development processes that currently require time-intensive, expensive manual labour. By ensuring that LLMs have human oversight, the company plans to leverage the technology for medical writing, protocol development, biostatistics, report generation and regulatory intelligence, among other uses.

Other areas of automation Formation is targeting are patient recruitment content and adverse event reports. Future uses of AI include decision-making support and models to predict a drug’s toxicity, tolerability, and efficacy.

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