Eric Schmidt-Backed AI Biotech Hologen Seeks $150 Million to De-Risk Clinical Trials
核心洞察
Hologen (搜索), a secretive AI startup co-founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt (搜索), is raising $150 million in Series A funding at an $850 million valuation.
The company aims to build "large medicine models" that account for biological variation to unmask true treatment effects in late-stage clinical trials.
Spun out of University College London and King's College London, Hologen (搜索) positions itself as a frontier medical AI, drug development, and investment company.
Hologen (搜索), a secretive AI startup co-founded by former Google CEO Eric Schmidt (搜索), is seeking to raise $150 million in a Series A fundraising round at an alleged $850 million valuation, according to materials obtained by STAT. The company is positioning itself to revolutionize clinical trial design through artificial intelligence technology that promises to "de-risk billion-dollar clinical trials."
Ambitious AI-Driven Approach
Hologen (搜索) describes itself as a "frontier medical AI company, a drug development & diagnostics company, and an investment company, wrapped into one," according to a slide deck obtained by STAT. The company's core innovation centers on building what it calls "large medicine models" that account for variation in different people's biology and responses to treatment.
These models are designed to "unmask true treatment effects in late-stage trials" by addressing biological heterogeneity that typically obscures drug effects in clinical studies. The technology aims to model the biological variation that can mask genuine therapeutic benefits, potentially transforming how pharmaceutical companies approach late-stage clinical development.
Academic Origins and Funding
Spun out of University College London and King's College London, Hologen (搜索) has already secured seed funding from family investment office SW7 (搜索) as well as Schmidt himself. Materials accompanying the pitch deck indicated the Series A round would allegedly be led by Averin (搜索) and Atlas Venture (搜索), though Atlas partner Bruce Booth told STAT his firm isn't involved in Hologen.
Clinical Trial Innovation Focus
The company's approach addresses a critical challenge in pharmaceutical development: the difficulty of detecting true treatment effects amid the biological diversity of patient populations. By leveraging AI to model this heterogeneity, Hologen (搜索) claims its technology can help pharmaceutical companies better understand which patients are most likely to benefit from specific treatments.
This capability could potentially reduce the risk associated with late-stage clinical trials, which represent some of the most expensive phases of drug development. The ability to better predict treatment outcomes and identify optimal patient populations could significantly impact how the industry approaches clinical trial design and patient stratification.