AI-Bio — Timeline

AI-Bio Timeline

Jun 2026 — ESM3 "programmable biology era" framing widely adopted in scientific community; EvolutionaryScale 98B param model is the standard open-weight protein model

May 27, 2026 — Biohub releases a protein-biology "world model" — built by the former EvolutionaryScale team (Alex Rives, Head of Science); ESMC trained on ~2.8B sequences (20,000+ human protein types), ESM Atlas mapping 6.8B sequences and 1.1B predicted structures; designed lab-validated binders against EGFR, PDGFRβ, PD-L1, CTLA-4, CD45 (36–88% hit for mini-binders, 15–29% antibody-derived, nanomolar) (GEN)

Apr 2026 — Amazon Web Services launches Amazon Bio Discovery (ABD) — agentic AI platform with 40+ biological foundation models + integrated laboratory services; largest tech company directly entering bio-AI lab infrastructure
Apr 2026 — Insilico Medicine announces LabClaw — 5 AI agents, 28 skill modules for end-to-end autonomous drug discovery from target ID through wet-lab execution
Apr 2026 — Rentosertib inhalation solution receives IND clearance from China's CDE (13th Insilico program to receive IND clearance)

Feb 26, 2026 — Generate Biomedicines IPO (GENB, NASDAQ) — $400M at $16/share, largest biotech IPO of the year; Flagship Pioneering / Chroma platform; first major AI-biologics public offering
Feb 2026 — Eikon Therapeutics IPO ($381M) — second AI-native biotech through the 2026 IPO window
Feb 10, 2026 — Isomorphic Labs IsoDDE technical report — IsoDDE (Isomorphic Drug Design Engine) reports 50% accuracy vs AlphaFold 3's 23.3% on the hardest protein-ligand structure-prediction cases; 17 active programs across oncology/immunology/cardiovascular; first AI-designed drugs targeted for Phase 1 by end-2026 (report)

Jan 2026 — Isomorphic Labs $2.1B Series B — Thrive Capital, MGX (Abu Dhabi), Temasek, UK Sovereign AI Fund; targets first internal IND by end-2026
Jan 2026 — Najat Khan becomes Recursion CEO (replacing founder Chris Gibson); company enters operational scale-up phase post-Exscientia integration

Oct 2025 — Lila Sciences raises $115M Series A extension (total $550M, ~$1.3B valuation); NVIDIA-backed autonomous lab company

Sep 21, 2025 — ESM protein-LM survey published (Yang, Yu & Zheng, ShanghaiTech; Quantitative Biology) — peer-reviewed map of ~100 ESM papers (ESM-1b → ESM-3, six variants, 8M–98B params; ESM-1b trained on 250M UniParc sequences) plus a critical limitations assessment (data bias, O(n²d) compute, out-of-domain weakness, black-box interpretability) (PMC12806033)

Aug 26, 2025 — UniGenX (v2) posted to arXiv (Zhang et al., 34 authors; arXiv:2503.06687) — unified generative foundation model co-generating sequence + 3D coordinates under direct functional objectives across proteins/molecules/materials; 23× protein induced-fit improvement (RMSD < 2 Å), new SOTA on five chemistry property targets, 436 viable crystal candidates (arXiv)

Jun 2025 — Rentosertib Phase IIa results published in Nature Medicine — First proof-of-concept efficacy data for an AI-discovered drug; TNIK inhibitor for IPF; Insilico Medicine; improved lung function in 71 patients

May 2025 — Ginkgo Bioworks announces strategic partnership with Bayer for agricultural synthetic biology (microbial strains for sustainable inputs); agricultural pivot after post-SPAC implosion

Mar 2025 — Lila Sciences launched by Flagship Pioneering with $200M seed financing; "AI Science Factories" concept introduced

Nov 2024 — Recursion-Exscientia merger closes ($688M) — Exscientia becomes wholly owned Recursion subsidiary; combined company has end-to-end AI drug discovery + phenomics platform; Exscientia acquired at distressed valuation relative to prior peak

Sep 2024 — Generate Biomedicines-Novartis partnership announced (~$1B+ milestones) for Chroma-designed protein therapeutics

Apr 2024 — Xaira Therapeutics launches with $1B+ in funding — largest AI drug discovery debut round ever; RFdiffusion/Baker lab lineage; Marc Tessier-Lavigne involved; stealth pipeline

Jan 2024 — Isomorphic Labs announces pharma partnerships: Eli Lilly (up to $1.7B total) and Novartis (up to $1.2B total); combined contracted value >$2B

2023 — BenevolentAI lead compound fails efficacy — Phase 2b failure for atopic dermatitis; market cap collapses; becomes cautionary data point for the "AI improves Phase 2" claim

Generate Biomedicines Chroma model published in Nature — first demonstration of all-atom protein generation conditioned on arbitrary function

Zymergen liquidated — synthetic biology platform; absorbed by Ginkgo; cautionary tale for synbio platform economics
Amyris files Chapter 11 — another synbio platform casualty

AlphaFold2 published in Nature (Jul 2021 print; CASP14 result Nov 2020) — near-perfect protein structure prediction validates "biology as information" premise of the entire techbio thesis
Ginkgo Bioworks goes public via SPAC at >$15B valuation; begins long decline toward -95% from peak
Recursion, Schrodinger, AbCellera all trade at peak valuations during AI-bio hype cycle peak

DSP-1181 (Exscientia/Sumitomo Pharma) enters Phase 1 — first fully AI-designed molecule in clinical trials; took 12 months from project start; OCD indication; validates feasibility of AI-native discovery