Isomorphic Labs won't slow down: "Our models are locked internally"

Faced with calls from OpenAI and Anthropic to temper the race to the border, the head of drug discovery at the Alphabet subsidiary believes that his work does not depend on it.

Interviewed on September 15, 2026 at the Semafor Future of Health Forum, Chris Butler, who leads drug discovery at Isomorphic Labs, dismissed the idea that a concerted slowdown in cutting-edge research would hold his company back. "We can continue to move forward regardless of the decisions made elsewhere," he said, noting that the company's models are developed and maintained in-house, without dependence on outside suppliers.

The remark comes in response to an unusual sequence: several executives of cutting-edge laboratories, including OpenAI and Anthropic, have recently advocated for moderating the pace of development of the most advanced systems. Isomorphic Labs, an Alphabet subsidiary founded by Demis Hassabis in the wake of DeepMind, is in another field: the design of molecules, with partnerships with Novartis, Eli Lilly and Johnson & Johnson.

The company raised $2.1 billion in May 2026, led by Thrive Capital, and is expanding its oncology and immunology teams. It says it is on schedule for its preclinical development, without putting forward a timetable for entering clinical trials.