This week’s InnovationRx explores the potential and hurdles of using AI to tailor healthcare and expedite clinical trials, the future of genetic medicine, Eli Lilly’s latest acquisition, and more. To receive it in your inbox, subscribe here.
This week, over 14,000 participants gathered in Las Vegas for the Adobe Summit. Unsurprisingly, AI dominated the discussions, particularly in a panel on its application in personalizing healthcare.
Jigar Shah, CMO of Blue Shield of California, emphasized the importance of this personalization, noting that healthcare journeys are unique due to individual biology.
Tory Smithe, who leads Adobe’s digital strategy for healthcare, pointed out that the industry’s tech adoption has been slow because of regulatory constraints, isolated systems, and outdated technologies. Shah suggested that viewing regulations as consumer protection can propel progress, referencing Blue Shield’s proactive stance on price transparency ahead of mandates.
Lesley Spellmeyer from Lilly highlighted AI’s role in enabling healthcare providers to proactively inform patients and doctors. She likened the seamless experiences expected in healthcare to those on platforms like Amazon. Shah echoed this, mentioning Blue Shield’s app that alerts consumers to cost-effective medication alternatives.
Despite AI’s benefits, the panelists acknowledged it isn’t a cure-all. It must be implemented thoughtfully to maintain trust among patients and doctors. Amanda Todorovich from Cleveland Clinic stressed that AI aids in scaling production but does not replace medical reviews in content creation.
The consensus was that trust is built by ensuring healthcare information comes from doctors. Smithe emphasized the importance of clinician-led communication.
This $1.8 Billion Startup Is Betting AI Can Get Drugs Through Clinical Trials Faster
Ben Liu
Guerin Blask for Forbes
When Benjamine Liu was a young computational biologist at the University of Oxford, he developed ideas for Alzheimer’s drugs but found no interest from pharmaceutical companies. They cited an overabundance of undeveloped drugs, leading Liu to realize the bottleneck was in the lengthy, costly clinical development phase where many drugs falter.
With drug candidates nearly doubling in the past decade, the FDA’s approval rate remains around 50 per year, indicating a stagnation that Liu believes AI can address. In 2016, Liu partnered with Linhao Zhang, who had been with Oscar Health, to establish Formation Bio, aiming to improve the efficiency of clinical trials.
Liu’s current goal is to acquire a portfolio of early-stage drug candidates, using AI to revive those that stalled in trials. His vision has attracted top investors like Andreessen Horowitz and OpenAI’s Sam Altman, with the company valued at $1.8 billion after raising $615 million. Forbes estimates Liu’s and Zhang’s stakes at over $150 million and $100 million, respectively.
Michael Moritz, a venture capitalist and early investor, sees the potential for Formation Bio to significantly impact an industry largely unshaken by recent startups.
Read more here.
Breakthrough Prize Winner Katherine High On The Future of Genetic Medicine
Katherine High recently received a $3 million Breakthrough Prize in Life Sciences, alongside Jean Bennett and Albert M. Maguire, for their work on Luxturna, the first FDA-approved gene replacement therapy. The prize is funded by the Breakthrough Prize Foundation and tech leaders like Mark Zuckerberg and Sergey Brin.
Luxturna treats Leber congenital amaurosis, a genetic disorder leading to blindness, allowing patients to retain significant vision. High expressed humility and gratitude for the recognition, though she noted that most in her field do not seek prizes.
After co-founding Spark Therapeutics, which developed Luxturna and was acquired by Roche for $4.3 billion, High is now advancing gene therapies for other vision disorders through her new venture, RhyGaze. She also serves on the board of CRISPR Therapeutics, which collaborates with Vertex Pharmaceuticals.
High is optimistic about genetic medicine’s future, foreseeing wider accessibility as healthcare systems adapt. However, she acknowledges the financial challenges posed by high initial costs for these cures. Despite this, she believes they offer transformative hope for those with inherited diseases.
“They allow the patient to not only move toward a different state of health that is more like normal, they also allow you to leave your genetic disease behind,” she said, adding that “in that sense, it’s really transformative.”
Deal of the Week
Pharmaceutical giant Eli Lilly has announced its fifth acquisition this year, acquiring genetic medicine company Kelonia Therapeutics for $3.25 billion upfront, with potential milestone payments pushing the deal to $7 billion. Kelonia is working on a CAR-T treatment for multiple myeloma, uniquely reprogramming immune cells directly within the body, unlike traditional methods that require cell extraction and reinfusion. Kelonia’s recent trial data showed promising results, marking Lilly’s second acquisition in the in vivo CAR-T field this year, following its purchase of Orna Technologies for up to $2.4 billion.
WHAT WE’RE READING
Forbes has released its eighth annual AI 50 list, highlighting the most promising private AI companies. While familiar names like Anthropic and ElevenLabs feature, newcomers such as presentation builder Gamma and drug discovery startup Chai Discovery also make the list. Additionally, the first AI 50 Brink list was launched, showcasing early-stage companies with significant future potential.
Biotech stocks surged after President Trump signed an order to expedite psychedelic medicine research and approvals.
Obesity drug developer Kailera raised $625 million in a major biotech IPO, with stocks climbing over 60% on their first day. Forbes featured Kailera last year.
Korea’s biotech sector is thriving, producing new wealth from weight loss and cancer drugs.
Researchers are uncovering more about treating vertigo.
Merck is collaborating with Google Cloud to integrate AI across its operations, in a deal valued at up to $1 billion.
