Frustrated with the speed of science, techies are remodeling R&D.
Chemical X. Lady Gaga and life/business partner Michael Polansky announced skin biotech venture Outer Bio.
The company has raised ~$23M for its R&D system that uses AI to study and predict the effects of chemical compounds using live human skin from biobanks. The goal is a hyperefficient ingredient discovery model, with plans to license new-to-market ingredients to CPG & pharma.
Despite a booming skincare space, only ~130 active ingredients are FDA-approved, but Outer Bio claims to be generating a new candidate every six weeks.
Heat map. Tech is reshaping health innovation as top AI companies team with pharma, with Google DeepMind spinout Isomorphic Labs raising $2.1B earlier this year to “solve all disease.”
Inspired by legendary corporate research org Bell Labs—developer of transistors, cellphone networks, and lasers—Sam Altman also co-founded R&D company Episteme to back scientists who’ve been bottlenecked by bureaucracy, tapping a Substack exec to shape the narrative.
Looking ahead: Using AI to push the pace of discovery, Silicon Valley wants to move fast and fix things. But with public souring on Big Tech, “progressive” labs could prove controversial.
