Sanofi-backed Formation Bio raises $372 million in late-stage funding round

(Reuters) - AI-based drug developer Formation Bio said on Wednesday that it has raised $372 million in a late-stage funding round, with a significant participation from French drugmaker Sanofi.

The funding was led by venture capital firm Andreessen Horowitz, Sequoia and FPV Ventures among others.

WHY IT'S IMPORTANT

Easing inflationary pressures, increasing bets of a soft landing for the U.S. economy and promising data from drug trials are starting to boost the biotech funding market, which saw a downturn last year along with other industries.

Major drugmakers are using artificial intelligence to find patients for clinical trials quickly, or to reduce the number of people needed to test medicines, both accelerating drug development and potentially saving millions of dollars.

CONTEXT

Formation Bio partners, acquires, or in-licenses drugs from biotech and pharma companies and then it develops those programs using its proprietary technology platform.

The company plans to allocate the new capital towards two primary objectives - acquiring and in-licensing drug candidates and expanding its AI capabilities.

Last month, Sanofi announced that it is collaborating with OpenAI and Formation Bio to boost its drug development projects through the use of artificial intelligence.

BY THE NUMBERS

The company, which did not disclose the valuation of the latest round, raised $372 million in Series D funding, a "material step up" from its previous valuation of $1 billion.

The company previously raised $156 million in its last funding round in 2021.

(Reporting by Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Alan Barona)