Isomorphic Labs Says In-House AI Models Let It Skip Pacing Debate

Isomorphic Labs is not slowing down. Chris Butler, who runs drug discovery at the Google-backed DeepMind spinout, told Semafor's Future of Health Forum on Tuesday that calls from OpenAI, Anthropic and other AI leaders to pace the frontier do not apply to his company.

"We're able to still progress regardless of what decisions are made elsewhere," Butler said. His reasoning: "All of our AI models are locked down and locked down in-house."

That vertical posture is the pitch. Isomorphic, founded in 2021 by DeepMind chief Demis Hassabis and now working with Novartis, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson, raised $2.1 billion in May in a round led by Thrive Capital. Butler said the expanding drug discovery team is focused on oncology and immunology and is moving "smoothly" through preclinical efforts toward the clinic.

On regulators, he said the landscape is "shifting to a point where the AI approach and bringing more in silico data" is expanding. He named no specific agency or pathway. The flatter line was the one worth catching: "It is really important that we continue to see that progress toward the clinic."

The remarks land a day after ByteDance's Anew Labs raised $290M at a $1.5B valuation for AI drug discovery, one entry in a run of moves we've tracked on the healthcare AI beat this month.