Forus raises US$160m for ai-powered medicine platform. - May 13, 2026 Why it matters. The funding accelerates a solution that removes bottlenecks between FDA approval and patient treatment, potentially improving outcomes and reducing costly delays. It also gives drug makers granular data to streamline launches and support value-based contracts. Key takeaways. * - Forus secured over $160 million from top venture firms. * - Platform automates insurance, assistance, and pharmacy routing for prescriptions. * - Adoption grew tenfold yearly, now in 80% of US zip codes. * - Five of the top ten global biopharma firms are platform partners. * - Free for doctors and patients, generating real-time treatment data. Pulse analysis. The $160 million Series B round that Forus closed this month underscores the accelerating appetite of venture capital for AI-driven health-care infrastructure. Backed by Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, Accel and other marquee firms, the financing positions Forus alongside other high-growth digital health players that are tackling the last-mile gap between FDA approval and real-world treatment. Investors are betting that a unified, data-rich platform can not only streamline prescription fulfillment but also unlock new revenue streams for biopharma by exposing friction points in the care pathway. In a market where drug development costs average $2.6 billion, any efficiency gain is highly prized. Forus's technology embeds directly into physician electronic health records, automatically triggering insurance authorisation, financial-assistance eligibility checks and pharmacy routing once a clinician selects a therapy. By eliminating manual paperwork, the system reduces the average time from prescription to first dose, a critical factor for patients with aggressive or rare diseases. The company reports a ten-fold year-over-year increase in practice adoption, now covering roughly 80 percent of U.S. residential zip codes and serving thousands of health systems nationwide. Because the service is free for both doctors and patients, adoption is driven largely by word-of-mouth referrals rather than pricing incentives. The data generated by Forus's end-to-end workflow offers biopharma unprecedented visibility into where prescriptions stall, which patient sub-populations drop out, and how drugs perform across diverse demographics. Five of the world's top ten pharmaceutical companies have already integrated the platform, using its insights to refine clinical trial design and accelerate market launch strategies. As payers and regulators increasingly demand real-world evidence, Forus could become a critical conduit for evidence-based pricing and value-based contracts. Competitors that lack such granular, real-time data risk falling behind in a sector where speed to market and patient access are decisive competitive advantages. Forus has raised more than US$160m to expand its AI platform linking doctors, payers, pharmacies and biopharma companies. The company, formerly known as Tandem, says its system is designed to help more patients access prescribed treatments after a clinical decision has been made. Sahir Jaggi, chief executive and founder of Forus, said: "Drug discovery is moving faster, but the system that turns it into real-world treatment isn't. "PULSE is creating that missing layer. PULSE is grateful to the clinicians across the country who already trust Forus to get their patients on treatment. "There's an opportunity to unlock an order of magnitude more treatment options for doctors and patients, and we are building a team whose ambition matches that goal." Forus says its platform is embedded into physician workflows and automates the steps between a doctor choosing a treatment and a patient starting it. These include insurance authorisation, financial assistance and fulfilment routing, which means directing a prescription to the right pharmacy or supply route. The company says the platform supports every drug, payer and pharmacy across the US, and is free for doctors and patients. Forus says it is used by thousands of medical practices and health systems across all 50 US states. It also says provider adoption has grown 10 times year on year for the past two years, driven entirely by word of mouth. According to the company, Forus now supports people in nearly 80 per cent of US residential zip codes, including many patients with complex conditions who are now, for the first time, on treatment that could change the course of their disease. The company says its role in moving prescriptions through the system gives it insight into where providers get stuck, where patients drop out and how medicines perform across populations. It says this data can help life sciences companies design research, launch new medicines more efficiently and invest in harder-to-treat conditions. Life sciences companies are organisations involved in fields such as biotechnology, pharmaceuticals and medical research. Forus says five of the top 10 global biopharma companies are already working with the platform. The company said bringing a new drug to market can take 10 to 15 years and cost US$2.6bn on average. It also said many eligible patients still do not receive treatment after approval from the US Food and Drug Administration, the regulator that assesses medicines before they can be marketed in the US. Forus is backed by Thrive Capital, General Catalyst, Accel, Bain Capital Ventures, Redpoint, BoxGroup and Pear VC. Kareem Zaki, partner at Thrive Capital, said: "Too often, patients miss out on the right treatment not because the therapy doesn't exist, but because the system to deliver it falls short. "Forus is addressing this from first principles. By making therapies reliably accessible in practice, they can both improve outcomes today and expand what's possible in medicine over time."

Forbes Daily: A bruising inflation report as Iran war drives up prices. Today's Forbes Daily newsletter covers the FDA Commissioner resigns, the race to produce drone boats, America's largest family businesses, the Iran war's cost and more. Forbes Staff. May 13, 2026, 08:12am EDT Startup Forus is betting that AI can handle the unglamorous admin side of getting prescriptions filled. That mission landed it a $1 billion valuation. With prescription drug spending expected to exceed $1 trillion this year, there's a massive opportunity - almost one third of Americans never fill the prescriptions that their doctors order. "The most common experience patients have is getting a prescription," says Kareem Zaki, a partner at Thrive Capital which invested in Forus. "But despite how common it is, it is prohibitory for patients to get the medications they think they need." This is a published version of the Forbes Daily newsletter, you can sign-up to get Forbes Daily in your inbox here. First up. * FDA Commissioner Dr. Marty Makary resigned after butting heads with Republicans over his resistance to limiting the abortion pill, mifepristone. * OpenAI cofounder and CEO Sam Altman testified that he has $2 billion worth of personal stakes in companies that conduct business with the ChatGPT maker, as he faces scrutiny over potential conflicts of interest. * President Donald Trump said Nvidia chief Jensen Huang is flying with him to China, along with other high-profile American CEOs, refuting earlier reports that Huang had not been invited. Deep dive. The war in Iran spiked inflation again in April, and consumers are losing purchasing power. Consumer prices increased 3.8% year-over-year, the fastest annual growth rate in nearly three years. The energy index, which tracks the price of fuel and utilities, drove more than 40% of all price increases. At the same time, workers' earnings are eroding, with wage growth increasing at a slower pace than inflation for the first time since 2023. Expect things to get worse before they get better, Jennifer Timmerman, senior investment strategy analyst at the Wells Fargo Investment Institute, explained in emailed responses to Forbes Daily. "Price pressures in the CPI will get worse for consumers, at least through the summer, before (hopefully) the war ends and they can begin to unwind," she wrote. In a K-shaped economy where lower-income consumers are pulling back, the conflict has driven up the cost of essentials like groceries as it disrupts transportation. But it's also hitting the wallets of the higher-income consumers fueling spending, with airfares surging 21% over the last year. "Lower-income-household spending is especially at risk due to the high cost of essentials and due to little buffer from a historically low savings rate," Timmerman says, though she notes strength in the stock market should cushion spending from higher-income households. Hours after the inflation data was released, President Donald Trump said he doesn't "think about Americans' financial situations" when negotiating with Iran. Tech + innovation. In the crowded race to produce drone boats, Havoc claims to have a unique edge to help it compete against defense giants like Anduril and Saronic - it doesn't make its own vessels, but instead buys and then outfits them with its software. They also recently closed a $100 million Series A round. "We are truly the only maritime company that's software focused," says CEO Paul Lwin. Cyber startup Depthfirst says its AI has identified major flaws in critical internet code that could affect the majority of people using the web today. The company claims it has identified even more bugs than Anthropic's comparable AI model Mythos, for just a tenth of the cost, because Depthfirst models are purpose-built for one task. With AI data centers running into limitations on Earth, tech leaders are shooting for the stars: Google is discussing a potential rocket-launch deal with SpaceX, the Wall Street Journal reported. Elon Musk has argued that putting data centers in space would be more cost-effective, while Google CEO Sundar Pichai said last year that building orbital data centers could become a new normal in a "decade or so." Money + politics. As the Trump administration starts handing out tariff refunds, a group of Democratic state treasurers, controllers and auditors are pushing for greater transparency in the process. The state leaders sent a letter to President Donald Trump expressing concern that the process "does not now nor will adequately reflect the actual distribution of costs," since it doesn't account for the added costs passed on to consumers. Daily cover story. For decades, DIYers and construction pros have picked up yellow and red bags of Quikrete concrete mix from the shelves of America's big box stores like Home Depot and used it for everything from anchoring mailboxes to patching driveways and making outdoor benches and steps. That in turn has generated billions of dollars for the little-known company and the little-known family behind the brand. But their time in the shadows may have come to an end. In February 2025, the privately-held building materials firm made a big splash when it paid $11.5 billion to acquire publicly traded competitor Summit Materials. The deal, which Forbes estimates boosted Quikrete's revenue by around 50% to an estimated $12 billion, helped propel the Atlanta-based company onto Forbes' first-ever ranking of America's Largest Family Businesses at No. 43. Based on Forbes' estimates, Quikrete is the 17th most valuable privately-held family business in America, making its founding Winchester family one of the country's richest clans, worth an estimated $18 billion, thanks to their estimated 100% ownership of Quikrete. "We're proud of our heritage as an American, family-run company that has helped revolutionize the building and home improvement industries," said Quikrete's former CEO Jim Winchester in a press release celebrating the company's 75th anniversary in 2015. That marked a rare public statement for the ultra-private Winchesters, who have managed to keep a low-profile despite building and owning a company that Forbes estimates is now more valuable than bigger-name family businesses like Nordstrom, Wawa and Kohler. A representative for Quikrete and the Winchesters declined multiple requests for interviews and to comment for this story, telling Forbes that the family did not wish to be profiled for privacy reasons. WHY IT MATTERS "As America approaches its 250th birthday later this year, Forbes just released its inaugural list of America's top family businesses, celebrating the companies that provide the foundation for much of the nation's economy," says Forbes deputy editor Matt Durot. "Many of the companies and families on this list are big names, but others like Quikrete and the Winchesters will likely be less familiar to readers." Facts + comments. The Iran war's cost has soared by billions since the Pentagon's last public estimate less than two weeks ago, though the true economic cost of the war is likely even higher: $29 billion: The war's cost thus far, Defense Department Comptroller Jay Hurst told Congress on Tuesday, a $4 billion increase from the end of April $200 billion: How much the Pentagon requested from Congress in March to fund the war Hundreds of billions to trillions: How much the conflict could cost the U.S. economy, University of Michigan professor Justin Wolfers recently wrote in The New York Times Strategy + success. Before your job interview is even scheduled, it is becoming more common for HR leaders to Google candidates and screen their social media profiles. Employers are looking for alignment with your resume, so be sure to Google yourself every now and then. Using LinkedIn is a great way to start building that professional brand online, from updating your profile to engaging with posts about your industry. Quiz. The closure of the Strait of Hormuz has sparked shortages of products worldwide. A lack of aluminum has led to a scarcity of which soda in India? A. Dr. Pepper B. Diet Coke C. Diet Pepsi Thanks for reading! This edition of Forbes Daily was edited by Sarah Whitmire and Chris Dobstaff. ByDanielle Chemtob Danielle Chemtob is a New York-based staff writer at Forbes authoring the Forbes Daily newsletter, Forbes' flagship newsletter that catches readers up on the news of the day and other key topics. She's broken down major issues for the Daily's audience like artificial intelligence and the economy. Chemtob has won three North Carolina Press Association awards, including a first place Henry Lee Weathers Freedom of Information Award for her reporting on a protocol for police in Charlotte, N.C. to reduce interactions with local media. Before Forbes, she was an investigative reporter at Axios Charlotte and a business reporter at the Charlotte Observer. She graduated from UNC-Chapel Hill with degrees in Media and Journalism and Political Science. Follow Chemtob and subscribe to the Forbes Daily for continued news and analysis delivered to your inbox each morning. ByForbes Daily Our best stories, exclusive reporting and Forbes perspectives on the day's top news, plus the inside scoop on the world's most important entrepreneurs. Sign up here.

Forus, the company accelerating medicine for the people who need it, prescribe it, and create it, today announced it has raised over $160M. Formerly known as...