PProfluent.bio designs custom proteins for genetic medicines using artificial intelligence. Its core offering is bespoke protein solutions tailored to therapeutic needs for pharmaceutical and biotech partners, helping advance treatments for genetic diseases. The product works by applying AI to optimize protein design, effectively decoding the “language of life” to create proteins that extend beyond natural or existing patented options. Partners collaborate on projects, with revenue coming from upfront fees, milestones, and royalties on successful commercialization of therapies that use their proteins. The company differentiates itself by combining AI-driven protein design with a partnership model in the gene editing and synthetic biology space, aiming to deliver more effective and precise treatments while enabling cost-efficient development. The goal is to accelerate genetic medicine by providing optimized proteins that enable new or improved therapies for genetic diseases.
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Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Late Stage VC
Total Funding
$149M
Headquarters
Emeryville, California
Founded
2022
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Total Funding
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BioMarin and Profluent partner on AI-designed enzyme therapies. Recommended companies. BioMarin Pharmaceutical has entered a research collaboration with Profluent to design and optimise novel enzyme therapies for its drug development pipeline. Under the agreement, Profluent will deploy its proprietary suite of protein language models to generate new potential drug candidates. BioMarin will screen and evaluate the computational outputs to identify molecules with the desired target activity and stability profiles, advancing selected candidates into preclinical testing. The creation and optimisation of therapeutic enzymes is typically a complex undertaking that requires extensive protein engineering and screening. Profluent will conduct the computational design work using the Profluent Protein Atlas, a dataset of more than 115 billion unique protein sequences and reportedly the world's largest protein sequence repository. BioMarin intends to use these foundation models to rapidly assess alternative protein structures before selecting candidates for further laboratory evaluation. BioMarin vice-president and metabolic conditions research head Pooja Agarwal said: "Profluent's AI models represent the kind of external innovation that can complement our own capabilities and help us move promising science forward faster. "By combining Profluent's approach to de novo protein design and optimisation with BioMarin's decades of expertise in enzyme therapies, we have an opportunity to identify promising candidates more efficiently for people with significant unmet need." Profluent CEO Ali Madani said: "BioMarin has one of the most credible track records in enzyme therapies, spending decades successfully advancing drugs through the clinic to improve the lives of patients. "We're excited to accelerate BioMarin's drug discovery pipeline and unlock new medicines by combining the strengths of our latest foundation models for protein design with their deep track record of getting therapies to patients." Founded in 2022 and based in Emeryville, California, Profluent develops biological foundation models intended for applications across medicine, agriculture, and other fields. The company's financial backers include AIX Ventures, Air Street Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Altimeter Capital, Insight Partners, Convergent Ventures, and Spark Capital. In April, BioMarin Pharmaceutical completed its acquisition of Amicus Therapeutics in an all-cash deal for a total equity value of nearly $4.8bn. Enter your email address so we can get in touch.
Profluent Partners with BioMarin to design novel medicines using AI. * Collaboration pairs Profluent's AI models with BioMarin's enzyme replacement therapy expertise to advance next-generation candidates for genetically defined conditions EMERYVILLE, Calif.-(BUSINESS WIRE)-Profluent, the frontier AI lab for biology, today announced a collaboration with BioMarin Pharmaceutical Inc. to design and optimize novel enzyme therapies for BioMarin's pipeline. Under the agreement, Profluent will apply its foundational AI models to generate novel potential drug candidates, and BioMarin will screen the results with the goal to eventually advance the most promising designs. Profluent's AI models represent the kind of external innovation that can complement its own capabilities and help Business Wire, Inc. move promising science forward faster. Share Developing and optimizing therapeutic enzymes is a complex process that can require extensive protein engineering and screening. Profluent will design and optimize enzyme candidates using its suite of proprietary protein language models, which use the Profluent Protein Atlas, the largest protein sequence dataset in the world composed of more than 115 billion unique sequences. BioMarin will leverage Profluent's AI models to rapidly explore protein designs to identify potential candidates with desired activity and stability profiles for further evaluation and advance the most promising candidates into preclinical testing. "Profluent's AI models represent the kind of external innovation that can complement our own capabilities and help us move promising science forward faster," said Pooja Agarwal, Ph.D., Vice President and Head of Metabolic Conditions Research at BioMarin. "By combining Profluent's approach to de novo protein design and optimization with BioMarin's decades of expertise in enzyme therapies, we have an opportunity to identify promising candidates more efficiently for people with significant unmet need." "BioMarin has one of the most credible track records in enzyme therapies, spending decades successfully advancing drugs through the clinic to improve the lives of patients," said Ali Madani, CEO of Profluent. "We're excited to accelerate BioMarin's drug discovery pipeline and unlock new medicines by combining the strengths of our latest foundation models for protein design with their deep track record of getting therapies to patients." About Profluent Profluent is the frontier AI lab for biology. Profluent builds powerful foundation models for all of life's molecules, unlocking solutions that transform medicine, agriculture, and beyond. Founded in 2022 and headquartered in Emeryville, CA, Profluent is backed by leading investors including Altimeter Capital, Bezos Expeditions, Spark Capital, Insight Partners, Air Street Capital, AIX Ventures, and Convergent Ventures. To learn more, visit www.profluent.bio or follow the company on LinkedIn, X, and YouTube.
Unlocking AI innovation in finance medicine and music. Published on May 05, 2026 GENETIC MEDICINE REVOLUTION: AI AND BIOTECH JOIN FORCES. In a groundbreaking partnership, Lilly and AI-driven Profluent Bio are teaming up in a deal worth up to $2.25 billion to develop advanced DNA editing tools. Their goal? To create precise treatments for genetic conditions that currently lack effective solutions, using innovative AI models to design enzymes that can target multiple mutations in the genome. This collaboration aims to unlock the "holy grail" of genetic medicine through kilobase-scale DNA editing. This matters because it could transform how AI Software Services treat genetic diseases, offering hope to millions who suffer from conditions deemed untreatable. The tools being developed are likely to be accessible, lowering barriers to entry in a field that has traditionally been expensive and exclusive. Imagine a startup that provides a platform for creators and developers to access these AI-driven genetic editing tools, enabling them to innovate and create personalized therapies. This could attract investors eager to support the next wave of medical breakthroughs!
Eli Lilly bets on recombinases in $2.25bn Profluent R&D pact. The pair will harness AI to discover and develop recombinases for precise, large-scale gene editing. Eli Lilly is locking down on its rapid expansion strategy with a second deal this week - joining forces with artificial intelligence (AI) biotech, Profluent, to develop recombinases for large-scale gene editing. The deal, which will see Lilly hand over an undisclosed upfront payment and funding for Profluent's R&D efforts, could deem the biotech eligible for $2.25bn in development and commercial milestones. Profluent will also see tiered royalties on net sales if any of the developed recombinases were to make it to market. Through this partnership, Lilly and Profluent will work across multiple programmes, which will focus on developing and commercialising site-specific recombinases for diseases with "severe unmet needs". To achieve this, Profluent will take an AI-driven approach - using the technology to create and optimise custom recombinases targeting exact locations in the genome to enable large-scale, precise DNA editing. Under the deal's terms, Lilly will also gain the exclusive rights to take selected recombinases through both early and clinical development to commercialisation. According to Profluent, altering DNA on a kilobase scale could help address the variation in mutations often seen across patients with genetic diseases - potentially allowing more patients in a heterogeneous population to gain benefit compared with the one-size-fits-all approach taken by standard knock-out and base editing methods. In a statement, Profluent's co-founder and CEO, Ali Madani, noted that kilobase-scale DNA editing is the "holy grail in genetic medicine," and AI is the only way to truly unlock the potential of designer recombinases for any location in the genome. Lilly forges on with dealmaking spree. Lilly's partnership with Profluent is not the big pharma's first foray into the world of recombinases, as the company previously forged a $1.12bn collaboration with German biotech, Seamless Therapeutics, to develop recombinase-based therapies for hearing loss in January 2026. The Indiana-based pharma, alongside Johnson & Johnson, also poured funds into an $85m financing raised by in vivo gene editing startup, Stylus Medicine - supporting the development of its cancer therapies. Alongside its activity in the recombinase space, Lilly has been on somewhat of a dealmaking spree over the first months of 2026, having handed over $21bn to acquire six biotechs across operating areas like oncology, immunology and cardiovascular diseases. Most recently, the pharma company bought Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor specialist, Ajax Therapeutics, for $2.3bn - potentially expanding its presence in the blood cancer market. Lilly's deal-heavy strategy is similarly mirrored across the pharmaceutical space, as companies look to restock their pipelines amid the looming patent expiries facing their portfolios. Give your business an edge with its leading industry insights.
Eli Lilly has signed a deal worth up to $2.25 billion with Profluent, an AI biotech startup, to develop DNA-editing medicines using AI-designed proteins called recombinases. The partnership gives Lilly exclusive rights to any resulting medicines, though upfront fees and disease targets were not disclosed. The collaboration focuses on inserting kilobase-scale DNA sequences into specific genome locations, aiming to surpass CRISPR/Cas9's capabilities. Profluent CEO Ali Madani described this as the "holy grail" of genetic medicine. The deal extends Lilly's AI drug discovery push, following a $1.12 billion agreement with Seamless Therapeutics in January. Profluent also released OpenCRISPR-1, an open-source AI-generated gene editor that matched SpCas9's efficiency whilst reducing unintended edits by 95% in human cell tests.
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Industries
Company Size
51-200
Company Stage
Late Stage VC
Total Funding
$149M
Headquarters
Emeryville, California
Founded
2022
Find jobs on Simplify and start your career today