# Formation Bio

> Formation Bio is a New York-based, AI-native pharmaceutical company that acquires and in-licenses clinical-stage drug candidates and runs them through a proprietary, technology-driven development platform to bring treatments to patients faster and at lower cost. Formerly known as TrialSpark, the company rebranded in December 2023 and raised a $372M Series D in June 2024 led by Andreessen Horowitz and Sanofi. It pairs in-house drug selection expertise with AI tools for trial design, recruitment, regulatory writing, and safety monitoring, and partnered with OpenAI and Sanofi to build purpose-built AI agents for drug development.

- **Founded:** 2016
- **Headquarters:** New York, United States
- **Founders:** Benjamine Liu (Co-founder & CEO), Linhao Zhang (Co-founder & former CTO), Kit Dobyns (Co-founder (departed 2019))
- **Team size:** ~190 employees
- **Products:** AI-Driven Drug Development, Clinical Trial Engine, Universal Data Platform, Muse
- **Notable:** Named to the CNBC Disruptor 50 list in 2025, Raised a $372M Series D in June 2024 led by a16z and Sanofi, Team and advisors have worked on 45+ approved drugs and 75+ regulatory submissions

## Products & services

- **AI-Driven Drug Development** — AI tooling that automates medical writing, protocol development, regulatory submissions, biostatistics, and safety monitoring.
- **Clinical Trial Engine** — An integrated system for patient recruitment, site management, data management, and regulatory compliance that shortens trial timelines.
- **Universal Data Platform** — A centralized knowledge base consolidating clinical, regulatory, and external datasets to inform development decisions.
- **Muse** — An AI tool built with OpenAI and Sanofi that converts trial documents into tailored patient recruitment materials in roughly 15 minutes.

## Achievements

- Named to the CNBC Disruptor 50 list in 2025
- Raised a $372M Series D in June 2024 led by a16z and Sanofi
- Team and advisors have worked on 45+ approved drugs and 75+ regulatory submissions
- Reported patient recruitment roughly 2.5x faster than industry standard
- Cut AI-generated adverse event report time from ~10 hours to ~1 hour
- Out-licensed gusacitinib to Sanofi for up to 545M euros (2025)

## Latest updates

- **2023-12** — Rebranded from TrialSpark to Formation Bio.
- **2024-05** — Announced AI collaboration with Sanofi and OpenAI to build custom drug-development AI agents.
- **2024-06** — Closed $372M Series D led by a16z and Sanofi.
- **2025-06** — Named to CNBC Disruptor 50; subsidiary Libertas Bio licensed gusacitinib to Sanofi for up to 545M euros; launched Entrepreneurs in Residence program.
- **2025-09** — Dan Neil appointed CTO as co-founder Linhao Zhang stepped back from the role.

## Links

- Website: https://www.formation.bio
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/formationbio
- Twitter/X: https://twitter.com/formationbio
- YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@FormationBio
- Facebook: https://facebook.com/formationbio1

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Profile page: https://yespress.io/formation-bio
Published by YesPress — https://yespress.io
Last updated: 2026-06-07