Isomorphic Labs in Talks at a $40–50B Valuation; No Drug Yet in Human Trials

What Happened

Bloomberg's October 8 report (by Mark Bergen, Natasha Mascarenhas, Rebecca Torrence and Ed Ludlow) says Isomorphic Labs is in "early talks" targeting a valuation of at least $40 billion — one person familiar said it could reach $50 billion — but the financing hasn't closed, terms could change, and the company declined to comment. Five months ago, on May 12, Reuters confirmed a $2.1 billion Series B led by Thrive Capital, with Alphabet providing a "large part" of it, joined by GV, Temasek, MGX, CapitalG and the UK Sovereign AI Fund, at an undisclosed valuation. A year earlier, Thrive also led a $600 million first round. Isomorphic spun out of Google DeepMind in 2021.

Bloomberg reported that Isomorphic "hasn't dosed a single patient," and the markup is happening ahead of any clinical proof — not after it. Hassabis's goal is to compress drug development from "years" to "months"; the company expects its first human trials by end of 2026 — already pushed back once, from end of 2025. Bloomberg also writes: many companies promise AI will slash drug-development time and cost, but few have progressed to clinical trials and none has brought a medicine to market. Separately, on October 7 Isomorphic announced it was joining a $1.8 billion "virtual biology" effort (US government + Meta + Google building a biological corpus for AI).

Key Facts

1. Early talks, not a closed round: The $40–50 billion is a target from people familiar with "early talks" — financing not closed, terms could change, company declined to comment. The report carries four Bloomberg bylines and cites multiple people familiar with the matter.
2. May round's valuation undisclosed: The May round's $2.1 billion valuation was never disclosed; third-party estimates put it around $15–20 billion (per an August 2026 investor analysis). The current talks target $40 billion, up to $50 billion. In those five months the company announced it was joining the $1.8 billion biology-data effort and moved its human-trial target from end-2025 to end-2026.
3. The Nobel was for protein-structure prediction: Hassabis and John Jumper won the 2024 Nobel in Chemistry for AlphaFold's protein-structure prediction. The company says its drug-design engine combines molecular prediction, biological-activity modeling and candidate design in one system; there is no independent clinical data yet. Bloomberg writes: "few have progressed to clinical trials and none have brought medicine to the market."
4. Other companies are moving too: Bloomberg notes OpenAI released a life-sciences research model this year, and many companies are applying the latest AI advances to medicine. In August Hassabis handed off DeepMind's day-to-day (becoming chairman and Alphabet chief scientist) to run Isomorphic full-time.

Context

The timeline: 2021 — Isomorphic spins out of Google DeepMind to commercialize the AlphaFold breakthrough; 2024 — Hassabis and John Jumper win the Nobel Prize in Chemistry for AlphaFold; 2025 — Thrive Capital leads a $600 million first round; May 12, 2026 — the $2.1 billion Series B closes (Thrive led; Alphabet, GV, Temasek, MGX, CapitalG, UK Sovereign AI Fund in); August 2026 — Hassabis becomes DeepMind chairman and Alphabet chief scientist while staying Isomorphic CEO; October 7 — the company joins the $1.8 billion "virtual biology" effort; October 8 — Bloomberg reports the $40–50 billion valuation talks.