Key points from article :
Kevin Weil, who previously led science work at OpenAI, has launched Warp Sciences, a start-up that uses robots to automate laboratory work for drug discovery. The company has reportedly raised $215 million at a valuation of $865 million, in a funding round led by Lightspeed, with IVP, Mayfield, Lux Capital, Premji Invest and Menlo Ventures also taking part.
Once researchers have identified promising compounds, drug developers need to make and test thousands of variations of each molecule. This labour-intensive work is often outsourced to contract research firms in China, such as WuXi AppTec. Warp Sciences aims to bring it back to the US and reduce the industry's exposure to geopolitical supply chain risks.
To teach its robots, the company records human chemists at work using cameras and sensor gloves. The data is then used to train robots to carry out the same lab tasks and run around the clock, which could speed up the early stages of drug discovery.
The funding figures come from Weil's own announcement, and the company has not yet shared details of how capable its robots are or when they will be in use.
