Drug discovery has doubled the flow of candidates, but approvals remain roughly flat. The constraint is development, not discovery.

In this episode, a16z General Partner, Jorge Conde talks with Formation Bio cofounder and CEO Ben Liu about building a modern pharma company around clinical execution. They discuss Formation Bio’s hub-and-spoke model for acquiring and advancing assets, how AI compresses trial timelines and costs, picking winners, regulatory strategy, and what it would take to move from about 50 approvals a year to many more. They also touch on global competition and why clinical proof still drives value in today’s market.\

Timecodes:

0:00 Introduction

0:38 Why Formation Bio? Origins and Mission

1:12 The Real Bottleneck: Clinical Development

4:56 Formation Bio’s Business Model

7:50 Picking Winners: The Art and Science of Drug Selection

11:54 First-in-Class vs. Best-in-Class Strategies

14:04 Overcoming Regulatory and Market Challenges

17:26 The Stakes: Can We Approve More Drugs?

19:07 How Formation Bio Cuts Cost and Time

21:43 AI’s Role in Drug Development

25:10 The Future: From 50 to 500 Drug Approvals?

35:18 Global Competition: The Rise of China

39:28 The Path Forward: Data, Regulation, and Access

41:47 Conclusion: Realizing the AI Revolution in Pharma

Resources:
Find Ben on X: https://x.com/BenjamineYLiu

Find Jorge on X: https://x.com/JorgeCondeBio

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How to Build This Generation's Big Pharma Company

Raising Health