CFOs are embracing AI, experimenting with new use cases for it throughout the finance function. But some CFOs are tapping the potential of the technology in other ways. At biotech firm Absci, researchers are using AI to develop drugs to treat cancer. (We’re not saying that to make your Claude-drafted emails look bad, we promise.)
Absci’s CFO and CBO, Zach Jonasson, spoke with CFO Brew about how AI is allowing the company to create and test new antibodies faster—and cheaper—than ever before.
Absci uses E. coli—yes, the same bacteria that can give you some nasty infections—to manufacture antibodies that can be used in a variety of therapies. Using a process called “high throughput screening,” it then tests the antibodies, and it patents therapies containing the most promising ones.
Even before ChatGPT burst onto the scene, Absci saw potential in AI. Through its testing of antibodies, the company generated large amounts of data, which it realized could be used to train an AI. In 2021, it acquired a deep learning company called Denovium, which became “the nucleus” that it built a proprietary AI around, Jonasson said.
Now, that AI platform comes up with millions of different antibody designs per week, according to Absci’s website, and makes predictions about which ones will be “the best at binding and interacting with a given target,” Jonasson said. Absci then tests the most promising candidates in its “wet lab”—which works with chemicals and other liquid substances—and its tests, in turn, produce data that the AI can use to refine its predictions. “We have this iterative, active learning loop where we’re generating training data,” Jonasson said.
The AI model has made it much faster to get drugs to the phase where they can be clinically tested on humans, Jonasson said. An antibody it designs can reach the clinical testing stage in “roughly 24 months.” Large pharmaceutical companies, he said, might take four to five years to reach that stage, and spend four to five times as much. (Smaller biotechs can move faster, he said, though he views Absci as “much faster and much more capital-efficient.”)
And the model’s improving all the time: “We do see efficiency gains year on year in terms of how fast we could run that loop [the development cycle],” Jonasson said.
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Increasing credibility: Absci’s “lab-in-the loop” process has benefited the company in other ways as well. Filing large numbers of patents is a cornerstone of the company’s business model, Jonasson said. Using proprietary assays, or tests, Absci is able to quickly obtain “functional data on all the designs the [AI] models produce,” which it can use when applying for patents. “No one’s ever been able to generate that kind of data [about antibody sequences] at scale” with the validation needed to support patent claims, he said.
The process has also helped Absci—which, like many drug development companies, is not yet profitable—obtain funding. The biotech space is “very noisy,” Jonasson noted, with many firms making bold claims about their technology. But being able to share with investors how Absci uses AI designs in its program helped it gain credibility and obtain “sizeable financing in March,” he said.
And though Absci’s own research is largely focused on cancer, the AI-driven process is “disease-agnostic,” Jonasson pointed out. It can “design antibodies or antibody-based therapeutics [for] pretty much any disease,” he said, which has allowed Absci to partner with organizations tackling other types of conditions.
Off the board and on board: Jonasson had a long history with Absci before he joined the company as CFO in 2023: As a venture capitalist, he was chairman of Absci’s board from 2016 through January 2021. The executive team invited him to join as CFO when their incumbent CFO retired. Jonasson spent four months contemplating the offer, but ultimately decided to leave the venture capital world to become part of Absci.
He’s been happy with his choice. “My impulse was always to want to get involved,” he said. Unlike the board role, the CFO job involves “not just advising and oversight, it’s rolling up your sleeves, making sure the work gets done. And I find that rewarding.”
He also enjoys the thought of making a difference. “It’s exciting to be at the forefront of an industry where we’re going to use AI to make fundamental benefit to patients,” he said. “I’ve been investing in a lot of these companies, but to be part of that team that drives this home, and to be able to tell my children [about it], this is impactful and meaningful.”