Formation Bio Secures $372M Series D Backed by Sanofi to Enhance AI-Driven Drug Development
Sanofi and other key investors have propelled Formation Bio forward with an impressive $372 million Series D funding. Unlike extravagant AI promises, Formation Bio focuses on practical solutions, automating workflows in the biotech industry. This includes generating tailored patient recruitment content for clinical trials and quickly producing AI-generated adverse event reports.
Short-Term Goals:
Formation Bio aims to partner with biotech companies to improve their workflow automation. For example:
- Tailored Patient Recruitment: Creating specific content to attract the right participants for clinical trials.
- Adverse Event Reports: Using AI to speed up the reporting process of any side effects observed during trials.
Medium-Term Vision:
The company envisions creating an "AI R&D Scientist" that will assist drug development teams in making informed decisions, ensuring high-quality research and development outcomes.
Long-Term Ambition:
According to a release dated June 26, Formation Bio intends to train AI models to:
- Predict Toxicity and Tolerability: For safer drug development.
- Assess Efficacy: Helping scientists understand how effective a drug might be.
Major Backers:
The funding round was led by a16z, with significant contributions from Sanofi, which has partnerships with other AI-centric companies like Owkin and Exscientia.
Expansion Plans:
Formation Bio, formerly known as TrialSpark, plans to use the newly acquired capital to buy and in-license clinical-stage assets from biotech and pharmaceutical partners. Their clinical pipeline includes:
- Gusacitinib in phase 3 for chronic hand eczema.
- ASN008 in phase 2 for notalgia paresthetica and itch related to atopic dermatitis.
- Sprifermin in phase 2 for knee osteoarthritis.
Strategic Acquisitions:
Both gusacitinib and ASN008 were acquired from Asana BioSciences in 2022, while sprifermin was licensed from Merck KGaA.
Partnerships with Benefits:
Formation Bio provides smaller biotech companies a way to advance multiple drugs in their pipeline. For large pharmaceutical companies, it offers a strategic "off balance sheet" development approach, allowing them to pursue more potential treatments in a profit and loss efficient manner.
Sanofi's Commitment:
Recently, Sanofi announced a drug development collaboration with Formation Bio and OpenAI. Paul Hudson, Sanofi's CEO, reaffirmed their dedication to AI in the industry:
"We are proud to partner with and invest in Formation Bio, whose AI-driven drug development vision and capabilities will help lead our industry forward in the shared ambition to accelerate and improve how we bring more new medicines to patients."
Formation Bio's pragmatic approach to AI in biotech and their successful securing of significant funding underscores their potential to transform drug development processes and ultimately deliver new treatments efficiently and safely.
