CBO Formation Bio. Serial biotech founder. Biotech, venture capital, pharma, science.
Boston
Joined August 2011
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David Steinberg retweeted
Formation raises $600 million to fix AI's biotech bottleneck axios.com/2026/10/29/formati…
David Steinberg retweeted
One of the things I'm most proud of is how much effort we've spent bringing together the best of bio/pharma and the best of tech/AI.
You kinda can't have one without the other. You need an AI-pilled culture combined with deep drug development experience (e.g. teams who have gotten drugs to market). That way you're clear-eyed about what is achievable while also remaining wildly ambitious.
I think we've found that sweet spot!
(also, we're hiring- if any of this resonates with you, please DM me)
Today we’re announcing the $600M Formation Bio Drug Development Accelerator Fund.
@lintaho and I started @FormationBio because we believed the biggest bottleneck in bringing new medicines to patients wasn’t drug discovery, but drug development.
As AI dramatically accelerates discovery, that bottleneck is only becoming more acute. Without the capital and capacity to advance promising drugs through clinical trials, much of that progress won’t translate into medicines for patients.
Our new Fund brings together dedicated capital, drug development expertise, and AI-powered development capabilities to acquire promising drugs and advance them through the clinic.
Big day for @formationbio as we announce our $600M Drug Development Accelerator Fund. Unique among funds in that it's directed toward our core internal programs, complementing our balance sheet capital and deep drug development capabilities. Learn more below:
Today we’re announcing the $600M Formation Bio Drug Development Accelerator Fund.
@lintaho and I started @FormationBio because we believed the biggest bottleneck in bringing new medicines to patients wasn’t drug discovery, but drug development.
As AI dramatically accelerates discovery, that bottleneck is only becoming more acute. Without the capital and capacity to advance promising drugs through clinical trials, much of that progress won’t translate into medicines for patients.
Our new Fund brings together dedicated capital, drug development expertise, and AI-powered development capabilities to acquire promising drugs and advance them through the clinic.
David Steinberg retweeted
"In a world of drug discovery abundance, the scarce capability is no longer making drugs, but rather, knowing which drugs are worth developing."
@BenjamineYLiu, co-founder and CEO of Formation Bio, explains how AI will transform the economics of the pharma industry - link in replies
David Steinberg retweeted
Drug development is one of the highest-stakes place for AI to drive meaningful outcomes for people. Mike joining Formation Bio, given his track record in pharma, is real world proof of that thesis. In the AI era, expert judgment matters more, not less. Excited for him to bring his expertise and scientific leadership to the team at Formation.
Excited to share that Mike Ehlers is joining @formationbio as Chief Scientific Officer and Head of R&D. Over the course of his career as a scientist, drug developer, and investor, Mike has advanced 40+ drugs into the clinic, with approvals spanning Alzheimer's, ALS, MS, hemophilia, and SMA. Welcome to the team, Mike!
We're incredibly excited to welcome Michael Ehlers as CSO and Head of R&D at @formationbio! Success in pharma will increasingly depend on combining the power of the best scientific minds with the best AI-enabled drug development capabilities & Mike is a huge part of that equation
Excited to share that Mike Ehlers is joining @formationbio as Chief Scientific Officer and Head of R&D. Over the course of his career as a scientist, drug developer, and investor, Mike has advanced 40+ drugs into the clinic, with approvals spanning Alzheimer's, ALS, MS, hemophilia, and SMA. Welcome to the team, Mike!
David Steinberg retweeted
AI is accelerating drug discovery — but none of that matters if we can't get medicines through development + clinical trials and into patients' hands. That's the bottleneck we're solving at @FormationBio.
Thanks @Forbes and @AmyFeldman for sharing our story. Grateful to our investors, partners, and most importantly the incredible Formation Bio team as we look to build this generation's enduring pharma company.
The world has more promising discovered drug candidates than ever. The problem is developing them. We built Formation Bio to fix that, using AI to develop drugs faster and with a higher likelihood of success.
Thank you @amyfeldman and @Forbes telling the story of our mission, and our vision for the future of pharma.
forbes.com/sites/amyfeldman/…
David Steinberg retweeted
Indication landscaping is foundational to how we evaluate drug opportunities, but it’s complex, iterative, and data-heavy. In our latest post, we share how we built durable, AI-assisted workflows to support real-world indication research. formation.bio/blog/building-…
David Steinberg retweeted
There are only a few other areas where AI has the potential to change lives more than the discovery and development of new medicines to improve lives for patients.
We thank @jackdent and @BenjamineYLiu for this discussion about how America needs to continue to lead in biopharma R&D and harness AI to accelerate treatments and cures.
Read this post by @formationbio 's CTO @dan_neil if you want an absolute master class on what it means to build an AI-native organization, with concrete examples. This is not some futuristic fantasy, it's happening right now.
AI-native ≠ more AI tools. Our CTO explains what it means in practice: changing the shape of a pharma company from labor-proportional to system-proportional scale, and building an institutional memory that appreciates rather than decays. formation.bio/blog/building-…
David Steinberg retweeted
Proud to announce that Formation Bio has acquired worldwide rights, excluding greater China, to FHND5032, a small-molecule miR-124 activator for autoimmune diseases. This marks our third acquisition in six months, and we plan to enter the clinic in 2026.
Go behind the scenes of the acquisition with our team in our latest video.
David Steinberg retweeted
AI can’t change how work gets done if it can’t access your organization’s data or tools. Here’s how we built ARK, an MCP-powered platform connecting models, systems, and agents across Formation Bio. formation.bio/blog/ark-mcp-g…
David Steinberg retweeted
@formationbio is building the data foundation that will power the future of clinical development, turning a decade of unstructured trial data into insight and laying the groundwork for AI-powered study design. Read more about how we do it:
New on our blog: Cohen Karnell, software engineer at Formation Bio, shares how we transformed a decade’s worth of unstructured clinical trial data into a standardized data foundation for faster, smarter clinical development. Read here: formation.bio/blog/structuri…
David Steinberg retweeted
Today we're announcing a new addition to our pipeline: LNK01006, a next-generation CNS-penetrant TYK2 inhibitor licensed from @LynkPharma. Phase 1 is planned for the first half of 2026.
In our latest video, hear from our team who brought the LNK01006 deal to life, including more details on our "Known In New" strategy, and how our technology makes acquisitions like this possible.
David Steinberg retweeted
Our CEO @BenjamineYLiu was recently on @a16z's Raising Health podcast. He shares how Formation Bio is building this generation’s AI-native pharma company, and reflects on what this could mean for the future of medicine.
Listen here: youtube.com/watch?v=LYjxxmqA…
Excited to welcome our inaugural class of Entrepreneurs in Residence to @formationbio !
Formation Bio welcomes our first class of Entrepreneurs in Residence! These dealmaking veterans will help drive pipeline growth, partnerships & BD strategy.
Read more here: formation.bio/blog/welcoming…
We at @formationbio are thrilled to be working with Mikael on his post-Pfizer journey
For his post-Pfizer era, Mikael Dolsten is already working with ~10 life science companies, ranging from large businesses to new startups
That includes Formation Bio, where he'll lead a drug-picking committee as an advisor.
My latest at @endpts: endpts.com/exclusive-former-…
