In this week’s edition of InnovationRx, we delve into a groundbreaking AI drug development partnership, a new pill for sleep apnea, and Commure’s impressive $7 billion valuation. To receive updates directly in your inbox,
subscribe here
.
Genesis Molecular AI’s Evan Feinberg (left) and Incyte’s Pablo Cagnoni
Genesis Molecular AI and Incyte
Evan Feinberg, the founder of Genesis Molecular AI, established the company seven years ago to transition his AI drug discovery research from Stanford to practical application. Today, the company has announced its largest partnership yet: a $120 million agreement with Incyte, a global biotech firm with a market cap of $19 billion. This deal includes $80 million in upfront cash and a $40 million equity investment, with the potential to exceed $1 billion through future milestone payments and royalties.
Incyte’s proprietary experimental data will be utilized to enhance the capabilities of Genesis’s foundation model as part of the collaboration.
“Drug discovery is one of the famously difficult grand challenges for AI,” Feinberg tells Forbes. “There are a lot of easier ways these days to work on AI.”
Feinberg, a 34-year-old alumnus of the 2019 Forbes 30 Under 30 list, co-founded the San Mateo, California-based company, building on his Ph.D. studies in the lab of venture capitalist Vijay Pande. Since its inception, Genesis Molecular AI has garnered $340 million in investments from Andreessen Horowitz, NVidia, and Menlo Ventures.
This deal follows a significant $2.1 billion fundraising effort by Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet-founded drug discovery firm, fueling optimism that AI can reduce the time and cost associated with developing new therapies.
AI drug discovery companies are increasingly securing funds through partnerships with major pharmaceutical and biotech firms, structured as cash or a combination of cash and equity, rather than relying solely on venture capital. Although AI may efficiently identify potential new therapies, the clinical development and regulatory approval process remains lengthy.
Pablo Cagnoni, Incyte’s president and global head of R&D, tells Forbes that Incyte began seeking a tech partner for collaboration a year and a half ago and selected Genesis after evaluating several companies. The two first signed a deal in February 2025, with Genesis receiving $30 million upfront to work on two oncology targets. The new agreement doubles down on those efforts. “There are a lot of companies that make very strong claims about what their capabilities are, and then you come out of the meeting unconvinced. The opposite was true here,” Cagnoni says.
Incyte and Genesis will collaborate on five potential targets within Incyte’s portfolio, spanning oncology, hematology, and inflammation, with the possibility of extending to 20 targets, according to Cagnoni. “In some of these target areas, the Genesis team will give us the final tweak at the end, and in others it will be in the beginning,” he says.
Although this is not Genesis’s first drug developer agreement, it is their largest. They have previously collaborated with Gilead (for which it received $35 million upfront to address three initial targets) and Eli Lilly.
Apnimed Files For Approval For Sleep Apnea Drug
Dr. Larry Miller, Apnimed’s cofounder and CEO
ALBIE COLANTONIO FOR FORBES
A treatment for sleep apnea is advancing towards reality: Apnimed has submitted a regulatory approval application for its drug, aiming for approval by the first quarter of 2027. The Cambridge, Mass.-based startup also released findings from its phase 3 clinical trials in the American Journal of Respiratory and Critical Care Medicine, highlighting significant improvements in airway obstruction, oxygenation, and symptoms like fatigue and snoring among sleep apnea patients.
Forbes previously featured Apnimed, an emerging biotech firm that acquired the potential medication rights from Harvard. The drug works by stimulating the brain stem to prevent full muscle relaxation in the throat while allowing the brain to rest during sleep.
Obstructive sleep apnea affects approximately 80 million people in the U.S., with the majority being undiagnosed and untreated. The primary treatment—a continuous positive airway pressure (CPAP) machine—is often disliked by users. Untreated sleep apnea can lead to serious health issues, including heart problems, strokes, and possibly Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s.
For some with sleep apnea, GLP-1 weight loss drugs may offer an additional solution. These drugs have been tested for sleep apnea treatment in obese patients, with Eli Lilly’s Zepbound gaining approval for overweight patients in December 2024.
Read our January profile of Apnimed here.
Isomorphic Labs Has A Massive Cash Horde, But Is Tight-Lipped On The Drugs In Its Pipeline
Isomorphic Labs, an AI-driven drug development firm founded by Alphabet, recently secured $2.1 billion in funding. This significant financial boost is a strong indicator of the market’s confidence in AI’s ability to revolutionize the drug development process, which is traditionally costly and time-consuming.
The London-based company has developed a drug development engine named IsoDDE, which surpasses its initial creation, AlphaFold. This innovation earned founder Demis Hassabis the Nobel Prize in Chemistry in 2024. However, the specifics of the drugs Isomorphic Labs is developing remain undisclosed, as company president Max Jaderberg is cautious about revealing details.
Jaderberg tells Forbes that Isomorphic Labs is expanding its internal pipeline of therapies, thanks to the success of its drug design engine. This move, unusual for a tech-rooted company, is in addition to its collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies like Novartis and Eli Lilly. The focus of internal projects includes oncology, immunology, and inflammation. “The programs we are going after are not fast-follower programs,” Jaderberg says. “We are thinking about going after these big zero-to-one problems where maybe the rest of the world has struggled to produce good medicines for patients or we can change the standard of care.”
Although Isomorphic Labs plans to bring its drug candidates to clinical trials independently, Jaderberg did not disclose details about its lead therapies or the timeline for clinical trials. During the World Economic Forum in January, Hassabis mentioned a timeline extending to the end of 2026, marking a delay from earlier predictions.
The future of Isomorphic’s assets is still uncertain. They might sell, license them to pharmaceutical companies, or market the therapeutics themselves. Jaderberg considers each drug “an individual business,” suggesting different strategies for different drugs.
Read more here.
Deal of the Week
Commure, a company specializing in AI-powered enterprise software for healthcare operations, has raised $70 million, bringing its valuation to $7 billion. Based in Mountain View, California, Commure focuses on the administrative aspects of healthcare, such as automating revenue cycle management to reduce time and costs. It also uses ambient AI to aid doctors in managing electronic health forms. The funding round was led by General Catalyst, which incubated the company. Commure plans to use the new funds to expand across specialties and enhance its AI models. CEO Tanay Tandon told trade publication Fierce Healthcare that it has over $200 million in contracted annual recurring revenue, doubling its ARR each year for the past three years.
WHAT WE’RE READING
The World Health Organization criticized global public health agencies for being unprepared for future pandemics, shortly after declaring an Ebola outbreak in Congo a public health emergency.
Several Republican-led states are aiding Trump’s deportation efforts by requiring their Medicaid agencies to notify the Department of Homeland Security if there are questions about an aid recipient’s immigration status.
TrumpRx is expanding its offerings to include generic drugs through agreements with Mark Cuban’s Cost Plus Drugs, GoodRx, and Amazon.
The Supreme Court has maintained mail-order access to the widely used abortion pill mifespristone, allowing women to continue obtaining it while litigation proceeds.
Treatment for alcohol addiction is undergoing a significant transformation, which many believe is long overdue.
Eight of the top 10 officials at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have been removed during the Trump Administration as the agency shifts away from pandemic preparedness.
Two major healthcare investors, GHO and CBC, are merging to form a $21 billion firm, which they claim will be the largest in the sector.
MORE FROM FORBES
