San Francisco · Anthropic · AI Agent · OpenAI · ChatGPT · Decrypt
Orchestra’s team and platform will be folded into Rosalind, OpenAI’s family of AI models and tools for biologists and chemists
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Getting a new medicine from first idea to U.S. approval takes time—up to 15 years according to OpenAI.
Key facts
- Founded in the fall of 2022, Orchestra raised its seed round from Andreessen Horowitz, Definition Capital, Insight Partners, and 8VC, and about $20 million in total, according to Caplight data
- Anthropic, OpenAI’s closest rival, has been running the same play: it bought AI biotech startup Coefficient Bio for roughly $400 million in April and launched a research platform called Claude
- The process is also absurdly expensive: bringing one approved drug to market can cost more than $2.6 billion, and fewer than 10% of candidates that enter human testing ever make it to pharmacy shelves
- In January alone, OpenAI launched ChatGPT Health, which lets users connect their medical records to the chatbot, and bought records startup Torch for a reported $100 million to build it out
Summary
OpenAI acquired Orchestra Bio, a startup whose AI agents track drug development programs, and will merge its team and platform into the Rosalind life sciences suite. Orchestra's agents map how setbacks like a failed manufacturing batch ripple through a drug program and compare possible responses, while scientists keep the final decision. The deal follows Anthropic's roughly $400 million purchase of Coefficient Bio in April, as rival AI labs race to own the workflow behind new medicines. OpenAI has bought Orchestra Bio, a San Francisco startup whose AI agents help drug companies keep sprawling development programs on schedule, the ChatGPT maker announced Tuesday. “Our goal is to help scientists make discoveries and manage the work needed to turn them into treatments that reach patients sooner,” OpenAI said in the announcement.