MoneyThe story, in brief
This Sam Altman-Backed $1.8 Billion Startup Bets AI Can Get Drugs Through Clinical Trials Faster
$615M. Formation Bio just raised a massive round to use AI for drug trials—and Sam Altman is betting big.
The KeyNews take
Why it matters
A well-funded startup is applying AI to pharma's most expensive bottleneck (clinical trials), not drug discovery. This signals where serious money sees AI's near-term ROI in biotech—and it's a different playbook than most assume.
The key facts
6 to knowFormation Bio raised $615M in funding round
Company valued at $1.8B post-money
Sam Altman is a backer
CEO Ben Liu's thesis: clinical trials (not discovery) is the bottleneck
Strategy: acquire stalled drugs and use AI to accelerate trial stress-testing
Forbes reporting, April 2026
Go to the source
Forbes Innovationforbes.com
Publisher excerpt: Formation Bio CEO Ben Liu is convinced that drug discovery isn’t the bottleneck in getting medicines to market—it’s going through clinical trials. Now he’s raised some $615 million from top investors to buy stalled drugs and use AI to stress test them faster.