University of Toronto spinout looks to fast-track drug formulation with machine learning and robotics.

Toronto-based biotech Intrepid Labs has emerged from stealth with $11 million USD ($15.4 million CAD) in funding to fast-track drug development with machine learning and robotics.

Intrepid is coming off a $7 million USD ($9.8 million CAD) seed round led by life science investor Avant Bio, building on a previously unannounced $4 million USD ($5.6 million) pre-seed round led by Radical Ventures with participation from Propagator Ventures.

The biotech startup said it is using the capital to expand its team, accelerate the development of its proprietary technology, and scale commercial operations to keep pace with customer demand.

“Intrepid Labs is unlocking a new era … in which delivery format, dosing frequency, and patient experience can be intentionally designed from day one.”

Intrepid Labs aims to help other biotech companies, pharmaceutical firms, and contractors accelerate their research and development strategies.

Starting with an active pharmaceutical ingredient and a target product profile, Intrepid says its modular, AI-driven robotic lab Valiant selects, prepares, and analyzes drug formulations through partial and fully-autonomous workflows, refining multiple parameters alongside an expert’s oversight.

Drug formulation involves combining active pharmaceutical ingredients with inert ingredients and excipients (something that help the medicine’s form) to produce the desired drug and complementary features. For example, a pill may be coated in a material that complements the active pharmaceutical ingredient in such a way that extends its effects or shelf-life.

Intrepid claims its platform can deliver results in days as opposed to the months of traditional formulation, which starts with benchmarks from existing formulations and then proceeds through a trial-and-error exercise one parameter at a time.

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“Intrepid Labs is unlocking a new era in drug formulation, in which delivery format, dosing frequency, and patient experience can be intentionally designed from day one,” Avant Bio partner Sebastien Latapie said in a statement. “By using AI and robotics to screen vast formulation possibilities, its Valiant platform enables more cost-effective therapies and better outcomes for patients.”

Founded in 2023 by ] academics, Intrepid Labs was spun out of the University of Toronto to pioneer the use of AI and robotics in drug development. Its co-founders include CEO Christine Allan, chief scientific officer Pauric Bannigan, research and development director Riley Hickman, and chief artificial intelligence (AI) advisor Alán Aspuru-Guzik. Most of the co-founders, excluding Hickman, co-authored an academic paper on machine learning directed drug formulation development in August 2021.

Intrepid claims that it has forged partnerships with “some of the largest global pharmaceutical companies,” as well as contract research organizations, and small and mid-sized biotechs, though they did not disclose any by name. The startup said it is also developing its own proprietary oral and long-acting injectable delivery technologies for small molecules and biologics, which are available for licensing.

Feature image courtesy Julia Koblitz via Unsplash.

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