Demis Hassabis Pushes to ‘Cure All Diseases’ as Isomorphic Secures $2.1 Billion Funding

(SeaPRwire) –   Time is always in short supply, but Demis Hassabis grapples with this more than most people do.

Hassabis often works until 4 in the morning, in part because of the demands of leading AI initiatives at Alphabet. The cofounder of Google DeepMind also heads another company: Isomorphic Labs, an AI-driven drug discovery startup he launched as a spin-off from Google back in 2021.

Earlier this year, I did a profile on Hassabis and Isomorphic Labs, and I recently checked in with him as the company reached a key milestone: This month, Isomorphic secured $2.1 billion in a Series B funding round led by Thrive Capital, aimed at “turbocharging” its next stage of growth. This includes expanding computing capacity, producing more data, and developing its programs further. (While we already covered this funding news in Term Sheet, it felt appropriate to share more of our conversation.) So I posed two questions to Hassabis: What aspects can you “turbocharge,” and what parts of the arduous drug discovery process will always have inherent friction?

“First off, we don’t just accept friction wherever it exists,” he told . “But in the short term, the most clear-cut area is increasing computing power… It’s not the level of compute required for an AGI lab, but more compute allows us to conduct more experiments and run more inferences.”

When considering future operational plans, Hassabis is also looking at Isomorphic’s infrastructure and the potential for automated labs: “I’m certain we’ll move forward with that at some point, but we want to choose the right moment,” he explained. “We still need to do more research on the automation aspect, as well as on the specific repeatable steps that would be worth automating.”

Historically, drug discovery is a scientific process marked by an enormous amount of trial and error. Even when a drug overcomes the slim chances of advancing to clinical trials, it’s even less common for a new medication to gain full FDA approval. Isomorphic Labs hasn’t yet moved any of its drugs into clinical trials. Hassabis didn’t provide a timeline for this, but it’s clear the company aims to do so as soon as possible.

“What I can share is that several of our programs are in the pre-clinical stage, and they’re progressing very smoothly,” he stated. “The new funding and partnerships—like those with J&J and Novartis—provide enough data points to infer how things are going.”

For Isomorphic Labs, success won’t be defined by a single drug.

“Instead, it’s about creating a platform that can address the bigger picture—solving all diseases,” Hassabis noted. “We don’t judge our success based on any single program.”

The name Isomorphic comes from a mathematical concept where two entities appear different but share the same fundamental structure.

“On one side, there’s biology, and on the other, information science,” Hassabis explained. “I view biology as a form of information; cells can be seen as information structures. That’s why I believe AI is the ideal tool or language to describe biology—it helps us grasp the isomorphic link between information structures and biological ones.”

Hassabis also mentions that the name has a subtle reference to the film Tron: Legacy. Isomorphic employees refer to themselves as “Isos,” and in the Tron sequel, the main character describes Isos as “amazing programs that come and solve disease,” he says with a laugh. Despite his skill in managing data and AI, and his ability to articulate future visions, there’s one thing he’s not sure about.

“If you asked me what the biggest mystery of reality is, I’d say it’s time,” Hassabis said. “What exactly is it? It’s wild that we don’t really know—except for the vague explanation that entropy increases in one direction and not the other. That doesn’t give a satisfying answer to the conscious experience of time. It’s the top thing I want to figure out. I also feel life is too short and we don’t have enough of it. That’s probably why I’ve always been in a hurry.”

See you tomorrow,

Allie Garfinkle
X: @agarfinks
Email: alexandra.garfinkle@.com

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