How 10x Genomics Is Fixing The AI Data Bottleneck

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Artificial intelligence has continued to make strides in biology, with new tools and models able to produce steady improvements at certain important research tasks. Deepmind, for example, recently released AlphaFold 3, which had much-improved accuracy in predicting the structure of proteins compared to its predecessor. Several drugs discovered using AI tools are already in the clinic, with possible first approvals coming from regulatory agencies in the next few years.

A major bottleneck for AI in the field, though, is a lack of data needed to train these models, such as the gene and protein sequences from a broad variety of species. But Serge Saxonov, cofounder and CEO of sequencing company 10x Genomics, tells Forbes that his customers are increasingly trying to change this by using the company’s products to generate massive amounts of these types of biological data.

Saxonov adds that the arrival of this generation of AI came just in time, as recent advances in sequencing and gene analytics have led to an explosion of data that would have been hard to crunch even a few years ago. “The key challenge we’ve always been concerned about from the beginning is that you can relieve this bottleneck of generating data, but now you’re creating a new bottleneck that is actually dealing with the data,” he said. “And the arrival of these AI approaches that happen to be actually hungry for more data starts relieving this bottleneck.”

The Next Billion-Dollar Healthcare Startups

For the tenth year running, Forbes has teamed up with TrueBridge Capital Partners to search for the 25 U.S. venture-backed companies most likely to reach a $1 billion valuation. Of the list’s 225 alumni, 131, or 58%, became unicorns, including DoorDash, Figma, Anduril, Benchling and Rippling. This year’s list includes several healthcare startups. San Diego-based Equip is providing virtual eating disorder treatment.. Los Angeles-based Midi Health offers virtual menopause care. And San Francisco-based EvenUp is a tool for personal-injury law firms to draft demand letters.

Read more here.

Pipeline & Deal Updates

AI Scribes: Kaiser Permanente announced the health system will make the AI medical note-taking software from Abridge available system-wide to its more than 24,000 doctors. A spokesperson declined to say how many doctors were currently using the tool, aside from the fact that it is “now available to primary care providers in all markets,” including doctors, physician assistants and mental health providers. The Permanente Medical Group had previously contracted with Abridge competitor Nabla for its doctors in northern California, but the spokesperson confirmed Abridge will now be the sole vendor. Nabla told Forbes it had generated 1.5 million encounters for Kaiser Permanente with positive reviews. Kaiser Permanente Ventures invested in Abridge’s Series B funding round last year.

Liver Disease: The FDA gave accelerated approval for seladelpar, marketed by Gilead as Livdelzi, to treat certain patients with the autoimmune liver disease primary biliary cholangitis.

AI Drug Discovery: AI drug discovery company Absci announced that it is collaborating with the Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center to develop new treatments for certain cancers.

M&A: Speaking of AI for drug discovery, Recursion and Exscientia, which both focus on using AI for developing new drugs, announced an agreement for a merger, pending approval of shareholders and regulators. In the combined company, Recursion’s existing shareholders will own about 74%, and Exscientia’s will own the remaining 26%.

Oncology: The FDA announced it has approved denileukin difitox-csdl, marketed by Citius Pharmaceuticals as Lymphir, for the treatment of certain cutaneous T-cell lymphomas.

Kidney Disease: The FDA gave an accelerated approval for iptacopan, marketed by Novartis as Fabhalta, as a treatment for a chronic kidney disease called primary immunoglobulin A nephropathy.

WHO Declares Mpox A Public Health Emergency—Here’s What To Know

The World Health Organization declared an international health emergency Wednesday over an escalating mpox outbreak in Africa, joining the continent’s top public health body. The agnecy warned that the disease could snowball without immediate steps to contain it, stoking fears a deadlier mpox pandemic could be on the horizon. This is the second time the agency has declared a global mpox outbreak: WHO declared a PHEIC in July 2022 and lifted the designation roughly a year later in May 2023.

Read more here.

Other Healthcare News

FDA Approves EpiPen-Alternative Neffy, A Nasal Spray To Treat Allergy Emergencies

Mark Cuban’s Company Shifts From Partner To ‘Consultant’ In Amazon-Blue Shield Pharmacy Venture

‘Slapped Cheek’ Virus Rising In US, CDC Warns—Here’s What To Know About Human Parvovirus B19

White House Pledges $150 Million In Federal Grants As Part Of Biden’s ‘Cancer Moonshot’

Texas Women Say Hospitals Denied Emergency Pregnancy Care Over Fear Of State’s Abortion Laws

Across Forbes

Here Are Trump’s Top Billionaire Donors

Forbes Next Billion-Dollar Startups List Has Accurately Predicted 100+ Unicorns In 10 Years

This Kinder, Gentler Bill Collector Is Helping People Keep The Lights On

What Else We are Reading

Eli Lilly’s billions: Can the world’s most valuable pharma company keep inventing drugs at this pace? (STAT)

Five ways science is tackling the antibiotic resistance crisis (Nature)

Robots and AI Are Aiming to Make IVF Cheaper (Bloomberg)