Formation Bio launches a $600 million fund, HHS removes 14 health IT criteria, and more - Life AI Weekly #92

In this edition, covering 28 October to 3 November:

• Formation Bio launched a $600 million fund to acquire and develop 10 to 15 clinical stage drug programs over the next 3 to 5 years.
• The US Department of Health and Human Services finalized the HTI-5 rule, which removes 14 of 60 health IT certification criteria and is projected to cut regulatory costs by more than $1.5 billion.
• OpenAI published the system card for GPT-Rosalind-6, a biology and drug discovery model it rates High capability in biological and chemical research and Critical in cybersecurity.

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Drug discovery research

OpenAI published the system card for GPT-Rosalind-6, a biology and drug discovery reasoning model that uses the same weights as GPT-6 Astra. Only approved researchers, companies and government partners can use it through trusted access, and OpenAI classifies it as High capability in biological and chemical research and Critical in cybersecurity, with added monitoring and safety controls. Anthropic is giving free Claude credits to 20 scientific foundations, research institutions and projects in fields including biology, medicine, chemistry and genomics. GPT-Rosalind-6 · Anthropic

Exin Therapeutics connected an AI agent to a robotic surgical setup that chose a gene therapy and injection coordinates and delivered the treatment to a living mouse with epilepsy. A veterinary surgeon performed the craniotomy and humans approved the plan. The company used Claude Sonnet 5 after Claude Opus 5.5 refused to guide the injection, and says the mouse is recovering well. MIT professors Regina Barzilay and James Collins received the 2026 Pritzker Prize for AI in Science Research Excellence for using AI to discover antibiotics including halicin and abaucin. Exin Therapeutics · Pritzker Prize

Differentia Bio says its AI disease models pointed to B cell therapies and the IL 4/Th2 pathway for IgG4 related disease before later clinical evidence supported both. Differentia Bio

MoleculeMind says its MMDesign platform produced experimentally confirmed binders in 18 of 19 campaigns, with 139 confirmed binders from 453 tested candidates. MoleculeMind

UCB will use Cradle's AI protein design platform in selected antibody discovery projects, from hit generation to preclinical readiness. UCB and Cradle

Drug development funds and new companies

Formation Bio launched a $600 million fund to acquire and develop 10 to 15 clinical stage drug programs over 3 to 5 years with its AI platform. Flagship Pioneering formed Etcelera by combining the platforms of Cellarity, Etiome and Empress Therapeutics, with Ad Rawcliffe as CEO. Etcelera says its platform includes a foundation model trained on data from 150 million cells and more than 30 prediction models, with programs in hematology, metabolism and immunology. Formation Bio · Etcelera

ALLOX raised $10.5 million in seed funding led by Asabys to expand its AI and experimental biology platform and its small molecule programs, and appointed Morten Graugaard as independent board chair. The Alzheimer's Drug Discovery Foundation licensed its SpeechDx dataset, with speech and biomarker data from more than 2,000 participants followed over three years, to Eli Lilly. Lilly is the third licensee after Siemens Healthineers and Callyope. ALLOX · Eli Lilly

Waters acquired MOBILion Systems on November 3, adding SLIM ion mobility technology for faster proteomics data generation for AI research and biomarker discovery, for undisclosed terms. Waters

CStone and Kimia Therapeutics will co develop a potential first in class DNA damage response drug for solid tumors, discovered with Kimia's ATLAS AI platform, with CStone leading Phase I. CStone and Kimia

Lawsuits over chatbots and patient privacy

The parents of an Amazon engineer with epilepsy sued OpenAI, alleging ChatGPT helped her taper her medication and hide it from doctors before she died in February. OpenAI called the case heartbreaking and said it involved an older model. Susan Feinberg sued OpenAI, CEO Sam Altman and Replika maker Luka in California, alleging that ChatGPT and Replika contributed to her husband's suicide in June 2024. Seizure medication case · Feinberg case

A Pittsburgh area woman filed a proposed class action against Allegheny Health Network and Highmark, alleging they did not properly disclose that Abridge records patient conversations and may use them for commercial AI development. The suit claims violations of Pennsylvania wiretap laws and HIPAA, among others. AHN and Highmark declined to comment. AHN and Highmark

Surveys on AI in health

A JED Foundation survey of 5,500 students aged 9 to 17 found that 90% had used an AI chatbot, often for schoolwork, companionship or emotional support, and Common Sense Media reported use by nearly half of 9 to 12 year olds. Emotional use was associated with poorer mental health, although the findings do not establish causation. A Pew Research Center survey found that 60% of US adults are uncomfortable with AI supporting diagnoses and treatments, and 46% oppose any AI role in health insurance claim decisions. Teen surveys · Pew

Regulators and governments

HHS finalized the ONC HTI-5 rule, removing 14 of 60 health IT certification criteria and revising seven others, including by ending requirements on AI model training data and annual real world testing plans. Information blocking proposals remain under review. The 53 Member States of the WHO European Region unanimously adopted the region's first roadmap for AI in health care, covering 2026 to 2033, and supported a new WHO office on AI. Canada's federal, provincial and territorial privacy commissioners called for stronger privacy protections, AI governance and updated research ethics guidance in health care. HTI-5 · WHO/Europe · Canada

Care operations and agents

athenahealth launched athenaPatient MCP, which lets Claude Pro and Max users in the US connect their health records and ask about lab results, medications and visits, and choose what to share. Zocdoc opened its booking infrastructure to registered AI agents, which can find providers, check insurance coverage and book appointments. Kipu Health made its Utilization Review Agent generally available for behavioral health, with human approval required for every payer submission, and says it has prepared 23,000 continued stay reviews. athenahealth · Zocdoc · Kipu Health

Hippocratic AI introduced Polaris 6 Ultra, a healthcare language model that the company says can interpret patient emotions and plan responses while speaking, with Ultra, Pro, Flash and Nano pricing tiers. Midstream Health raised a $20 million Series A led by Valtruis for agentic AI that helps hospitals recover money they are owed. SpendRule raised $4 million in seed funding led by Mark Cuban's Radical Investments for AI that checks supplier invoices against hospital contracts. Hippocratic AI · Midstream Health · SpendRule

Humber River Health in Ontario is adding predictive AI to its iPlan discharge platform with Deloitte and other partners, with investment from Scale AI, to flag patients at risk of complex transitions. Humber River Health

Zifo launched an AI assisted service for computer system validation and equipment qualification records, with human experts approving the output, and says it could cut documentation effort by 60 to 70 percent. Zifo

LeanTaaS acquired LookDeep Health and launched iQueue for Virtual Care, which uses AI monitoring to support virtual observation, nursing and medicine. Cerbo says its AI Scribe now drafts structured EHR notes from Cerbo Telemedicine and Zoom visits, at no additional cost. LeanTaaS · Cerbo

OpenEvidence is expanding integrations with six US health systems, covering electronic health records, clinical workflows, medical education and decision support. OpenEvidence

ROMTech is marketing its PortableConnect home rehabilitation system ahead of Medicare's CJR-X model, which from January 1, 2028 puts 2,217 hospitals at risk for 90 day joint replacement costs. ROMTech

Singapore's NUHS, Singtel and Ericsson will test AI, 5G and 6G healthcare tools such as robotics and remote monitoring at a new NUHS AI centre. NUHS

Arkstone launched Arkstone Next to guide antibiotic choices in rural clinics and care homes. VisiQuate bought Finvi's Artiva HCx revenue cycle business. Arkstone · VisiQuate

Cohere Health says a Medicare Advantage client found more than $10 million in savings in six months by reviewing high cost claims with AI before payment. Cohere Health

Clinical studies and diagnostics

Google is opening a research hub in Singapore and expanding its healthcare AI work there, including tests of an AI co-clinician. Google.org and Google DeepMind will contribute $7 million to the Philanthropy Asia Alliance's Health for Human Potential Coalition, including $1 million for the PathGen platform. A preliminary study of 4,190 adults in Pakistan, to be presented at the American Heart Association Scientific Sessions 2026, found AI analysis of blood pressure and wearable data flagged higher risk of a hypertensive crisis up to 72 hours ahead. It has not been peer reviewed. Lorenzo Albertazzi of TU/e received a €3.7 million European Innovation Council grant for an automated AI microscope to analyze biopsies, starting with B cell lymphoma. Google · Hypertension study · TU/e

At the Canton Fair in Guangzhou, an AI system in the Intelligent Healthcare Zone assesses body composition, posture and muscle balance in 32 seconds. Canton Fair

SOPHiA GENETICS reported third quarter revenue of $24.3 million, up 25%, and new genomics, BioPharma and companion diagnostic agreements. SOPHiA GENETICS

AEYE Health won the 2026 Prix Galien USA Award for Best Digital Health Solution for AEYE-DS, its FDA cleared autonomous diabetic retinopathy screening system. Vetology opened its AI radiology screening free to veterinary schools, letting students check their interpretations against 94 canine and feline classifiers. AEYE Health · Vetology

Sectra signed a seven year deal to bring its cloud radiology reporting to Mount Sinai, covering more than 1.2 million exams a year from spring 2027. Sectra

Cognixion is enrolling 30 adults with ALS in an NIH supported study of its wearable brain computer interface at home. Cognixion

Medscape says its Clarus model scored 88.6% on the NOHARM v2 clinical safety benchmark and 85.0% on HealthBench Professional. Medscape

Lunit will present two AI pathology studies on ovarian and bladder cancer, run with Labcorp and CellCarta, at SITC 2026. Lunit