OpenAI has acquired Orchestra Bio, a San Francisco startup that builds AI agents to help drug companies keep development programs on schedule. The company announced the deal on Tuesday.
Orchestra’s team and platform will join Rosalind, OpenAI’s group of AI models and tools for biologists and chemists. Financial terms of the deal were not disclosed.
“Our goal is to help scientists make discoveries and manage the work needed to turn them into treatments that reach patients sooner,” OpenAI said in its announcement.
What Orchestra Bio Does
Bringing a new medicine from first idea to U.S. approval can take up to 15 years, according to OpenAI. The process can cost more than $2.6 billion for one approved drug.
Fewer than 10% of drug candidates that enter human testing ever reach pharmacy shelves. Each month removed from the timeline means patients can get new treatments sooner.
Drug teams must coordinate work across internal departments and outside partners. These partners often include contract research organizations, which run studies, and contract manufacturers, which produce experimental drugs.
OpenAI says these groups often rely on systems that do not connect with each other. Orchestra’s agents are designed to help with that problem.
The software watches over tasks and flags problems on its own. If a setback happens, such as a failed manufacturing batch, the agents work out which activities and deadlines are affected.
They then gather relevant information and compare possible responses. Scientists and program leaders still make the final decision.
Orchestra was founded in the fall of 2022. It raised about $20 million in total from investors including Andreessen Horowitz, Definition Capital, Insight Partners and 8VC, according to Caplight data.
The startup is not related to Orchestra BioMed, a separate Nasdaq-listed medical device maker.
OpenAI’s Push Into Life Sciences
In April, OpenAI launched GPT-Rosalind, a model built for biology and drug discovery. Access is limited to vetted U.S. enterprise customers such as Amgen and Moderna.
A related product, Rosalind Workbench, connects the model to scientific tools and data. Researchers use it to analyze results and plan experiments.
OpenAI says Rosalind helps scientists decide what to test, while Orchestra will handle the steps that follow. The combined team will build agents that link scientific findings to the decisions and follow-up studies needed to create a medicine.
The deal follows other health moves by OpenAI this year. In January, it launched ChatGPT Health and bought medical records startup Torch for a reported $100 million. It also turned scientific writing tool Crixet into its Prism platform for researchers.
In a January blog post, CFO Sarah Friar wrote that licensing, IP-based agreements and outcome-based pricing will share in the value created as AI moves into drug discovery.
Rival Anthropic bought AI biotech startup Coefficient Bio for about $400 million in April. It launched a research platform called Claude Science in June.
OpenAI did not say when Orchestra’s agents will appear inside Rosalind. Five days before the deal, the company introduced a Rosalind Academic Plan offering eligible U.S. university labs up to 30 free seats for as long as 12 months.
