DIGITAL BIOLOGY
Features
OpenAI acquires Orchestra Bio and will combine it with its Rosalind life sciences tools
Orchestra Bio is a platform where scientists and program leaders delegate the monitoring and tracking of studies and campaigns to AI agents. OpenAI says Orchestra's agents help teams identify which activities and timelines a problem such as a failed manufacturing batch affects. The stated aim is to build agents that connect scientific findings with the studies, decisions and next steps needed to advance a potential medicine. The announcement does not state financial terms.
Pathos AI raises $237 million Series E led by Bristol Myers Squibb at about a $3 billion valuation
Existing investors also took part. Proceeds will scale the Foundry platform and advance Pathos's oncology pipeline, including taking JSKN016, a TROP2/HER3 bispecific antibody-drug conjugate, toward registrational studies. Pathos separately announced a collaboration in which Tempus will build a neurology dataset licensed to Pathos under a five-year, $55 million agreement, and BMS gains three-year exclusive rights to Foundry for neuroscience.
Warp Sciences, co-founded by former OpenAI executive Kevin Weil, emerges from stealth with $215 million
Warp is building a U.S.-based chemistry contract research organization that combines chemists, AI and robotics to make and test molecules for biotech and pharma customers. Its first service is lead optimization analog synthesis. Lightspeed led the round, and TechCrunch reports an $865 million valuation, according to Weil. DJ Patil, Manohar Paluri and Sol Reisberg are co-founders. Warp has no proprietary drug pipeline.
Boltz will deploy its platform and proprietary models inside Bristol Myers Squibb's NVIDIA DGX SuperPOD infrastructure
BMS scientists have long used Boltz's open-source models; the agreement adds the Boltz Lab platform and proprietary models. The tools support molecular design for small molecules and biologics, from de novo generation to optimization of existing candidates. The agreement also sets a framework to co-develop custom models informed by BMS's scientific data. The announcement gives no financial terms.
AI Proteins is eligible for over $400 million from Astellas in a miniprotein license deal
AI Proteins, a Boston-based company that designs de novo miniproteins with AI, will use its platform to design and optimize miniproteins against multiple undisclosed targets selected by Astellas. Astellas holds an exclusive worldwide license to resulting candidates and will take on development, regulatory approval and commercialization. That sum covers upfront and milestone payments, with royalties on net sales of any resulting products in addition; the release does not say how it divides between the two. AI Proteins previously signed a research and option agreement with Bristol Myers Squibb valued at up to $400 million.