What Is Isomorphic Labs, and Can You Invest in It?
Alphabet's commercial life sciences spinoff applying AlphaFold architectures to biological systems and drug development.
Isomorphic Labs is an artificial intelligence (AI) drug discovery business established by Alphabet and led by Demis Hassabis to design therapeutic treatments for human disease.
At Layer3Labs, we build AI automations for small and mid-sized business workflows, so we follow how AI models move from research benchmarks into regulated work such as drug development.
The enterprise operates as a private Alphabet subsidiary, meaning direct public investment is impossible and the only public-market exposure is through shares of its parent company, Alphabet.
What Isomorphic Labs Does
Isomorphic Labs is an independent life sciences business owned by Alphabet that uses artificial intelligence to model human disease and design new therapeutic molecules.
The company was incorporated on February 24, 2021, and officially announced on November 4, 2021, under DeepMind chief executive officer (CEO) Demis Hassabis. Its stated founding aim in 2021 was to construct a computational platform to understand biological systems from first principles, guided by the belief that biology and information science share an underlying structural symmetry. Isomorphic Labs states its overarching mission as working to solve all disease with AI, building directly upon the Nobel Prize winning AlphaFold protein-folding system.
- Corporate structure: Privately held subsidiary operating as an independent unit of Alphabet Inc.; it is not publicly traded, so Alphabet stock is the only public-market exposure.
- Founder and chief executive: Sir Demis Hassabis, PhD, who also serves as Chief Scientist of Alphabet.
- Core technological focus: Computational molecular design, macromolecular interaction prediction, and small-molecule therapeutics.
- Key platforms: AlphaFold 3, co-developed with Google DeepMind, and the proprietary Isomorphic Labs Drug Design Engine (IsoDDE).
- Recent milestone: Secured a $2.1 billion Series B financing round in May 2026 led by Thrive Capital.
Corporate Structure and Investment Access
Retail and institutional public investors cannot buy direct shares of Isomorphic Labs because the business remains a privately held corporate entity.
Alphabet decided to spin off Isomorphic Labs from DeepMind after AlphaFold2, per reporting from CNBC. While Wikipedia identifies the business as an Alphabet subsidiary, Isomorphic Labs operates with independent operational leadership and raises outside private venture capital. How much Alphabet initially invested in 2021 was never made public.
In March 2025, Isomorphic Labs raised $600 million in its first external funding round led by Thrive Capital, with participation from GV and Alphabet. Hassabis told The New York Times that Isomorphic Labs didn't need the capital, though the extra funding would help it hire top research scientists, TechCrunch reported.
On May 12, 2026, Isomorphic Labs announced a $2.1 billion Series B funding round, as reported by R&D World. The round was led by Thrive Capital, alongside Alphabet, GV, and new backers including MGX, Temasek, CapitalG, and the UK Sovereign AI Fund. Reuters reported that the transaction closed at an undisclosed valuation. R&D World put total outside capital raised at about $2.6 billion. Because no public listing exists, the only public-market exposure runs through Alphabet Inc., and that exposure covers all of Alphabet's businesses.
Origins and the AlphaFold Lineage
The scientific foundation of Isomorphic Labs stems directly from structural biology research conducted within Google DeepMind.
In 2020, Demis Hassabis and John Jumper introduced AlphaFold2, an AI model capable of predicting the three-dimensional structures of proteins from primary amino acid sequences. AlphaFold2 earned Hassabis and Jumper a share of the 2024 Nobel Prize in Chemistry. After AlphaFold2, founding team member Colin Murdoch and Hassabis pitched a business plan to Alphabet, which spun Isomorphic Labs off from DeepMind, according to CNBC. For his research background, see our profile of who Demis Hassabis is.
Isomorphic Labs operates as an independent unit of Alphabet, separate from Google DeepMind. Hassabis also appears in our guide to AI people to watch.
Proprietary Technology and the Drug Design Engine
Isomorphic Labs has expanded its computational toolset beyond AlphaFold into proprietary systems.
On May 8, 2024, Isomorphic Labs and Google DeepMind jointly introduced AlphaFold 3. This model predicts structures and interactions across proteins, deoxyribonucleic acid (DNA), ribonucleic acid (RNA), and small-molecule ligands. DeepMind published that AlphaFold 3 delivered at least a 50% predictive improvement over existing methods when modeling protein interactions with other molecule classes. In November 2024, model code and weights for AlphaFold 3 were released for academic use.
To build a commercial pipeline, Isomorphic Labs developed proprietary systems that diverge from public releases. On February 10, 2026, the company announced the Isomorphic Labs Drug Design Engine (IsoDDE). The company reported that IsoDDE more than doubles the accuracy of AlphaFold 3 on a challenging protein-ligand generalization benchmark. Unlike early AlphaFold iterations, IsoDDE remains completely proprietary. Isomorphic Labs states that IsoDDE designs across multiple drug modalities, including small molecules, antibodies, peptides, and molecular glues. For Alphabet's general-purpose AI model, see our guide on how to use Gemini.
Commercial Partnerships and Pharmaceutical Pipeline
Isomorphic Labs has signed research collaborations with three large pharmaceutical companies, two of which have published upfront and milestone terms.
In January 2024, Isomorphic Labs signed multi-target research deals with Eli Lilly and Novartis worth roughly $3 billion in combined value. Eli Lilly committed $45 million upfront, alongside up to $1.7 billion in potential performance-based milestones, excluding downstream commercial royalties. Novartis paid $37.5 million upfront, agreed to cover select research expenses, and committed up to $1.2 billion in performance incentives. Both agreements focus on discovering small-molecule therapeutics for undisclosed or historically difficult targets. In February 2025, Isomorphic Labs and Novartis expanded their partnership by adding up to three new research programs.
On January 20, 2026, Isomorphic Labs announced an additional multi-target, cross-modality collaboration with Johnson & Johnson.
As of May 2026, the business manages 17 active drug development programs spanning oncology, immunology, and cardiovascular disease, according to R&D World.
- Eli Lilly partnership: $45 million upfront with up to $1.7 billion in performance milestones for small-molecule candidates.
- Novartis partnership: $37.5 million upfront, covered research costs, and up to $1.2 billion in milestones, expanded in February 2025.
- Johnson & Johnson collaboration: Multi-target and cross-modality drug discovery partnership announced in January 2026.
- Development programs: 17 active programs targeting oncology, immunology, and cardiovascular disorders.
Executive Leadership and Scientific Governance
The leadership team of Isomorphic Labs combines artificial intelligence pioneers from Alphabet with pharmaceutical research executives.
On August 5, 2026, Alphabet announced a major corporate leadership update. As covered by Fortune, Demis Hassabis stepped back from day-to-day administrative management of Google DeepMind to become Chair of Google DeepMind and Chief Scientist of Alphabet. Hassabis said he would lean into his role as founder and CEO of Isomorphic Labs, "where we are making extremely rapid and promising progress." Following the announcement, Alphabet shares fell around 5% on public markets. For another longtime Google research leader, see our profile of who Jeff Dean is.
On January 1, 2026, founding team member Max Jaderberg, previously Chief AI Officer, became President of Isomorphic Labs, succeeding Colin Murdoch. The executive roster listed on the Isomorphic Labs team page includes Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) Miles Congreve, Chief Research Officer (CRO) Sarah Skerratt, and Chief Medical Officer (CMO) Dr. Ben Wolf. The company is supported by an academic scientific advisory board that includes Jennifer Doudna, Sir Paul Nurse, and Venki Ramakrishnan.
The company operates across three international hubs. Isomorphic Labs maintains its headquarters in London, opened an office in Lausanne, Switzerland in May 2023, and established its United States office in Cambridge, Massachusetts in June 2025 alongside the appointment of Dr. Wolf.
Clinical Timelines and Execution Risks
The central milestone for Isomorphic Labs is proving that computational predictions translate to safe, efficacious outcomes in human patients.
Developing computational designs into viable medicines takes time. As of May 2026, Isomorphic Labs expected to initiate its first human clinical trials by the end of 2026, according to Reuters. This timeline represents a delay from the CEO's earlier target of having AI-designed drugs in clinical trials by the end of 2025. R&D World reported that as of May 2026, no human patient had been dosed with an Isomorphic-designed therapeutic molecule.
On September 29, 2026, Isomorphic Labs published an update stating that its preclinical data is helping the business prepare for clinical developments. The same post describes a vertically integrated model in which the company develops the AI models, generates the data, discovers new biology, and then will take potential medicines to patients in the clinic. In July 2026, Isomorphic Labs and Google DeepMind published a joint approach to bioresilience.
Investment Status and What to Watch
Isomorphic Labs has no public shares, so the investment question comes down to its parent company.
As of October 2026, Isomorphic Labs is privately held and its parent, Alphabet Inc., is publicly traded, so Alphabet shares are the only public-market route to any exposure, and that exposure is spread across all of Alphabet. No human patient had been dosed with an Isomorphic-designed compound as of May 2026, and the company expected its first clinical trials by the end of 2026.
Frequently Asked Questions
- Direct equity investment in Isomorphic Labs is not possible because the business is a privately held subsidiary. Its parent company, Alphabet Inc., is publicly traded, so Alphabet stock is the only public-market route to any exposure.
- As of October 2026, Isomorphic Labs has not disclosed an approved or marketed drug discovered entirely by AI, and no human patient had been dosed with an Isomorphic-designed compound as of May 2026. The company manages 17 active preclinical programs across oncology, immunology, and cardiovascular disease, and as of May 2026 expected its first clinical trials by the end of 2026.
- Isomorphic Labs has raised roughly $2.6 billion in outside private funding, including a $2.1 billion Series B in May 2026, but Reuters reported the financing closed at an undisclosed valuation, so no published figure confirms unicorn status.
- Isomorphic Labs is not a public company. It is an independent, privately held commercial subsidiary owned by Alphabet Inc. that has raised private funding from firms such as Thrive Capital, GV, Temasek, and MGX.
- Google's parent company, Alphabet Inc., owns Isomorphic Labs. Alphabet established the venture in 2021 by spinning it out of DeepMind, and it continues to operate as an independent commercial unit under Alphabet while taking external private capital.
- Sir Demis Hassabis, PhD, is the founder and CEO of Isomorphic Labs. In August 2026, Hassabis handed over day-to-day administrative management of Google DeepMind to serve as its Chair and Alphabet's Chief Scientist, and said he would spend more of his time on Isomorphic Labs, which he continues to lead.
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