Andrew Dunn

Exclusive: A first-time CEO launches startup to bring AI into the lab Michelle Lee's startup Medra raises $11M to build AI-powered lab robots, attracting Genentech and others as customers. The Stanford PhD aims to automate 70% of lab instruments with flexible robotic sy...

Exclusive: 33-year-old first-time CEO Michelle Lee is officially launching her AI robotics startup Medra

Lee told me Medra has raised $11 million in pre-seed and seed rounds and have landed their first customers: endpoints.news/exclusive-ro...

AI Day 2025 Biopharma’s relationship with AI is reaching a tipping point. While Big Pharma doubles down on AI to streamline development, a wave of startups is betting the tech can overhaul R&D from the ground up....

So, Eli Lilly has launched TuneLab. What's next?

Mark your calendars for our AI Day on Oct. 14. Our free + virtual sessions include Aliza Apple, TuneLab's leader at Lilly.

Sign up here in <10 secs for free access to livestreams & on-demand recordings: events.endpoints.news/aiday2025/re...

In first-of-its-kind setup, Lilly offers startups free access to its AI models in exchange for data Eli Lilly is offering an unusual deal to any biotech: contribute some data, and in exchange, get access to many of Lilly's own AI models. The initiative, called TuneLab, debuted ...

NEW: Eli Lilly, the world's most valuable drugmaker, is offering biotechs free access to a suite of its own AI models for R&D.

My latest dives into TuneLab's unique setup and initial focus on small molecule ADMET and antibody developability:
endpoints.news/eli-lilly-of...

Exclusive: Neuro startup Leal raises $30M Series A for schizophrenia and ALS trials Leal Therapeutics raises Series A funding led by SV Health Investors for neurology drugs LTX-001 and LTX-002. CEO Asa Abeliovich plans clinical trials through 2026.

Exclusive: Asa Abeliovich's Leal Therapeutics has closed a $30M Series A, funding its two lead drug candidates for schizophrenia and ALS trials

More here — including a surprising obesity angle to its lead compound: endpoints.news/neuro-biotec...

Exclusive: OpenAI, Retro Bio detail lab results with AI protein model, plan use in drug program OpenAI and Retro Biosciences report AI-made proteins showed 50x better cell reprogramming using modified Yamanaka factors, with potential therapeutic applications

Exclusive: I talked with leaders of OpenAI and Retro Bio about new lab results from an AI protein model called GPT-4b micro.

While the model won't be released publicly, the research shows how LLMs could be applied to life sciences research:
endpoints.news/openai-retro...

Exclusive: Formation licenses first drug since $372M raise, eyes more deals in 2025 Formation Bio licenses first-in-class anti-CD226 antibody from IMIDomics for IBD treatment, marking first drug acquisition since $372M Series D raise in 2023.

Exclusive: Formation Bio raised a $372M Series D last year.

Later today, the New York biopharma will announce its first licensing deal since raising that money — bringing in a CD226 antibody from the Spanish biotech IMIDomics.

My latest for @endpts.com: endpoints.news/exclusive-fo...

Revolution and Iambic to combine data and AI models in R&D deal for cancer drugs Revolution Medicines has become one of the industry's most valuable pre-commercial companies thanks to its pipeline of clinical-stage cancer drugs. CEO Mark Goldsmith is pressing ahead on ...

NEW: RevMed will pair its unique library of molecular structures and data with the AI models developed by Iambic Therapeutics, the two biotechs announced Wednesday.

Revolution to pay $25 million in short term to Iambic through upfront + near-term milestones:
endpoints.news/revolution-a...

Biopharma's 20 highest-paid CEOs of 2024 with $20M+ paydays Biopharma CEO median pay hit $4.73M in 2024, up 40%. 20 CEOs made over $20M, including Pfizer's Bourla, Vertex's Kewalramani, Amgen's Bradway & Royalty Pharma's Legorreta.

This has turned into an annual summer tradition of mine — analyzing compensation trends across the biopharma world

In today's story, I analyzed 475 CEO pay packages, finding the 20 highest-paid for 2024:
endpoints.news/the-highest-...

KalVista CEO says FDA review proceeded normally, was unaware of Makary's rejection ask The company felt 'fairly blindsided' upon reading the report that FDA Commissioner Marty Makary had briefly yet unsuccessfully tried to intervene in the review of its newly-approved HAE drug.

NEW: I interviewed KalVista CEO Ben Palleiko on the heels of its FDA approval for an HAE drug.

"We were fairly blindsided by when your report came out, because until then, we hadn’t had the slightest idea.”

More here in my latest for @endpts.com
endpoints.news/kalvista-ceo...

Despite delay, KalVista wins FDA approval after Makary's short-lived attempt to intervene FDA approves KalVista Pharmaceuticals' sebetralstat for hereditary angioedema after controversy involving FDA Commissioner Makary's attempted intervention in review process

Despite delay, KalVista wins FDA approval after Makary's short-lived attempt to intervene
endpoints.news/fda-approves...

China’s rise splits US biotech investors: Cash in, or counter? US investors debate response to China's rise in drug development, with some seeing a national security threat while others embrace collaboration. FDA and policymakers consider reforms to maintain comp...

NEW: An inside look at the growing divide among US-based biotech investors over China's ascent

Some VCs are capitalizing on China's rise by licensing in molecules and forming NewCo's.

Others, like Curie Bio's Zach Weinberg, see a threat to the US biotech industry:
endpoints.news/us-investors...

FDA head Makary’s short-lived CRL ask on KalVista’s drug raises more concerns of political intervention FDA Commissioner Marty Makary’s unsuccessful attempt to intervene in an ongoing drug review, as described by multiple agency sources, raises further concerns about the regulator under its new leadersh...

NEW: Some expert reaction & further context around FDA head Marty Makary's unsuccessful attempt to intervene in KalVista's drug review:
endpoints.news/fda-head-mak...

Exclusive: FDA's Makary sought rejection of KalVista’s drug in an unusual move by commissioner, sources say FDA Commissioner Marty Makary reportedly attempted to reject KalVista Pharmaceuticals' drug application, sources said. An HHS spokesperson calls the claim 'totally false.'

Exclusive: FDA's Makary sought rejection of KalVista’s drug in an unusual move by commissioner, sources say
endpoints.news/sources-fda-...

Basecamp pitches a fix for AI bio's 'data wall' Basecamp Research's global expeditions built BaseData, containing 9.8B protein sequences - 10x larger than public datasets - to advance AI biology models with Nvidia

Basecamp CEO Glen Glowers on a "data wall" in AI bio:

“These foundation models are simply at a point where they cannot grow anymore. We’ve effectively run out of the internet in biology."

BaseData is like "being able to grow more internet for biology," Gowers says: endpoints.news/basecamp-res...

Exclusive: Rebooting dead human brains, a biotech startup seeks to reinvent early drug testing work Startup Bexorg, led by Zvonimir Vrselja, keeps human brains alive to test drugs. Their BrainEx system sustains brain cells for 24 hours to improve drug development and reduce animal testing.

Here's a must-read deep dive into Bexorg, a biotech restoring dead human brains for better drug testing.

A wild one from New Haven, CT from @scienceboss.bsky.social : endpoints.news/rebooting-de...

Recursion to lay off 20% of staff, a month after slashing its pipeline The Salt Lake City-based biotech disclosed the job cuts in an SEC filing on Tuesday morning. More than 150 employees are likely being let go.

NEW: Recursion is laying off 20% of its workforce, likely cutting over 150 jobs, @kylelahucik.bsky.social reports

Recursion, a first generation AI-focused biotech, cut its pipeline nearly in half last month, shelving five clinical- or near-clinical-stage programs

endpoints.news/recursion-to...

MIT scientists’ AI model one-ups AlphaFold 3, takes on ‘fundamental issue’ in drug R&D MIT scientists unveil Boltz-2, a new AI model predicting drug binding affinities. Led by Gabriele Corso, Saro Passaro & Jeremy Wohlwend, it outperforms previous AI methods in drug discovery.

NEW: A trio of young MIT scientists say their new AI model has made progress in predicting binding affinity, a key property in drug discovery

Good affinity prediction has evaded other AI models, but Boltz-2 showed solid improvement:
endpoints.news/mit-scientis...

Exclusive: Tech VC Amplify raises $200M for first biotech fund, hires Elliot Hershberg as new partner The biotech fund — officially called Amplify Bio Fund I — plans to make about 20 investments exclusively in pre-seed, seed and Series A rounds.

Exclusive: Amplify Partners has raised $200 million for its first biotech-specific fund

Targeting ~20 investments of $1.5m-$10m in pre-seed/seed/Series A-stage startups.

The Silicon Valley VC has also hired @elliothershberg.com as a partner: endpoints.news/amplify-rais...

Q&A: Sandoz CEO Richard Saynor on generic GLP-1s, Trump's industry impact, and Mark Cuban's company Richard Saynor discusses his 35-year career in generics, Sandoz's 80% stock rise since the Novartis spinoff, and views on drug pricing and FDA changes.

Q&A: Sandoz CEO on the natural tension of generics vs. pharma, the coming generic GLP-1 experiment, Trump's tariffs, & more:
endpoints.news/qa-sandoz-ce...

Exclusive: Toronto biotech ProteinQure nears the clinic with peptide platform as it raises $11M Series A ProteinQure raises $11M Series A led by Heron Rock to advance PQ203, a peptide-drug conjugate for triple-negative breast cancer, into clinical trials by Q3, pivoting from quantum to AI.

Exclusive: ProteinQure has raised an $11 million Series A, planning to enter the clinic later this year with its first drug candidate: a peptide-drug conjugate for triple-negative breast cancer
endpts.com/exclusive-pr...

Post-Hoc: AI bio needs to heed the overhyped history of CRISPR Beam Therapeutics CEO John Evans warns against AI hype in drug development, drawing parallels to past CRISPR expectations, responding to DeepMind CEO's disease cure claims.

Post-Hoc: AI's CRISPR moment

Both technologies are powerful and hold vast potential. But the AI bio field should learn lessons from the overhyped history of CRISPR in how its leaders set expectations:
endpts.com/post-hoc-ai-...

Big leases, bigger regrets: Biotech slump turns swanky offices from asset into liability Biotech companies face financial strain from expensive long-term leases signed during pandemic boom, with Ginkgo Bioworks, Prime Medicine & others struggling with high lease obligations amid market do...

NEW: I dove into the precarious state of biotech's real-estate market

Companies like Ginkgo, Prime, and Boundless Bio face some of the largest relative lease burdens, weighing down their balance sheets for years to come.

My latest for @endpts.com

endpts.com/biotech-down...

Exclusive: Datavant to acquire real-world data specialist Aetion, doubling life sciences team Datavant acquires Aetion in health data merger. Deal doubles life sciences team to 400. CEO Kyle Armbrester says company has $1B+ revenue. Terms undisclosed. More M&A expected.

EXCLUSIVE: Datavant has agreed to acquire Aetion in a deal doubling the size of Datavant's life sciences team

The two healthcare data specialists will officially announce the deal later this morning.

Read it at @endpts.com first: endpts.com/exclusive-da...

Recursion cuts nearly half of its pipeline, including its most advanced program Recursion has cut five drug programs as CEO Chris Gibson focuses on 'winners' in its pipeline.

NEW: Recursion is abandoning or pausing 5 drug programs, cutting nearly half its pipeline — including what were its most clinically advanced efforts

Recursion's stock is down 10% this morning

Details: endpts.com/ai-biotech-r...

Iambic debuts next version of AI model Enchant, driving new way for drug R&D Iambic Therapeutics enhances AI model Enchant v2 with 10x more training data, improving drug property predictions.

“Anybody can spin up big dreams about what might be possible with AI and then get dinged for hype,” Iambic CEO Tom Miller told me. “We really like to lean into what we’ve actually done.”

More here in my @endpts.com latest: endpts.com/ai-biotech-i...

Exclusive: Ex-Calico scientist launches Stately Bio with new way to study cells Stately Bio has raised a $12 million seed round led by AIX Ventures to advance machine learning techniques that recognize signals from simple images of living cells.

NEW: Stately Bio is now launching after 3 years in stealth, CEO Frank Li, told me.

Li previously led the machine-learning group at Calico, leaving in 2021 to found Stately.

He's raised a $12M seed for a new way to study cells w/ AI: endpts.com/exclusive-ai...

The Endpoints Slack interview: Arc Institute's Patrick Hsu on investing, AI and new ways of research An interview with Patrick Hsu, 31, Harvard PhD grad and CRISPR pioneer, who co-founded Arc Institute and helped develop Evo 2, a biology-focused AI model.

This was a fun one — new Endpoints Slack interview with @pdhsu.bsky.social :

endpts.com/endpoints-sl...

How pharma is reacting to ‘Liberation Day’: Join us tomorrow for Post-Hoc Live! Live stream podcast tomorrow at 12pm ET with Drew Armstrong, Max Bayer & Anna Brown discussing pharma industry's response to Trump administration tariffs, including lobbying & manufacturing changes.

Here's something new: our first-ever Post-Hoc Live happens tomorrow at noon ET

Watch @drewsnews.bsky.social, @maxbayer.bsky.social and @annajbrown.bsky.social talk pharma & tariffs — while live!

endpts.com/how-pharma-i...

Exclusive: Can AI replace animal testing? A new biotech launches to find out Brandon White launches Axiom, a biotech using AI to predict drug toxicity, with $15M seed funding. Former Uber employee aims to replace animal testing with simulation models.

Exclusive: Axiom has raised a $15 million seed round to further develop its AI models for drug toxicity predictions.

For @endpts.com, I talked with CEO Brandon White ahead of the startup's official launch: endpts.com/exclusive-ax...

New fund will pressure flailing biotechs, as investor frustration boils over Nicholas Johnston launches Alis Biosciences, targeting struggling biotechs with $30B in trapped capital and aiming to return cash to shareholders.

Biotech investors seem to be reaching a boiling point with the market downturn — and a new fund is launching to target flailing biotechs on the public market

My @endpts.com ts latest on Alis Biosciences' debut:
endpts.com/alis-bioscie...