Intrepid Labs Launches to Transform Drug Formulation with AI and Autonomous Labs

• Intrepid Labs’ Valiant platform uses AI and robotics to cut drug formulation timelines from months to days
• Over $11M USD total raised to-date; latest round led by AVANT BIO

TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Intrepid Labs, a biotechnology company transforming drug formulation development through the use of artificial intelligence (AI) and robotics, emerged from stealth today to accelerate therapeutics development through effective formulations that improve clinical performance.

The company has secured several industry partners, and recently closed a $7 million USD seed round led by AVANT BIO, which follows a $4 million USD unannounced pre-seed round led by Radical Ventures, with participation from Propagator Ventures. The proceeds from these financings will expand Intrepid Labs’ team, accelerate the development of its proprietary delivery technologies, and scale commercial operations to keep pace with customer demand.

"It is apparent that traditional approaches to drug formulation aren't working," said Christine Allen, co-founder and chief executive officer of Intrepid Labs. "Pharma companies are relying on legacy approaches that fail to deliver the best possible formulations into the clinic. I believe this contributes to the high rate of failure during clinical development. Intrepid Labs is addressing this overlooked bottleneck in drug development with its transformative approach that unlocks a faster, more precise path to improve the quality of therapeutics. We’re going to change the way the industry thinks about drug formulation."

Formulation is a critical step in drug development. Effective formulations not only improve therapeutic efficacy, but also mitigate adverse effects, enhancing overall patient safety, while improving drug development success rates.

The conventional approach to formulation design is slow and expensive. It starts with benchmarks from existing formulations and then proceeds, one parameter at a time, through a trial-and-error exercise. As a result, companies often settle for suboptimal formulations that fail to maximize a drug’s performance, leaving most of the design space untapped.

Intrepid Labs is transforming drug formulation with its Valiant™ platform – a modular, AI-driven robotic lab that rapidly explores the full formulation design space. Starting with an active pharmaceutical ingredient and a target product profile, Valiant selects, prepares, and analyzes formulations through semi- and fully autonomous workflows, refining multiple parameters in parallel with expert oversight. What once took months can now be achieved in days – delivering optimized formulations through a comprehensive, data-driven process.

Since its founding in 2023, Intrepid Labs has forged partnerships with multiple drug developers, including some of the largest global pharmaceutical companies, as well as contract research organizations, and small and mid-sized biotechs. Industry partners use the Valiant platform to identify optimized formulations and accelerate drug development. At the same time, Intrepid Labs is developing its own proprietary oral and long-acting injectable delivery technologies for small molecules and biologics that are available for licensing.

“Intrepid Labs is unlocking a new era in drug formulation, in which delivery format, dosing frequency, and patient experience can be intentionally designed from day one,” said Sebastien Latapie, partner at AVANT BIO. “By using AI and robotics to screen vast formulation possibilities, its Valiant platform enables more cost-effective therapies and better outcomes for patients.”

About Intrepid Labs

Intrepid Labs was spun out of the University of Toronto to pioneer the use of artificial intelligence and robotics to redefine drug formulation and accelerate therapeutic development. The company is led by CEO and co-founder Dr. Christine Allen, a global expert in drug formulation with over 180 peer-reviewed publications. Together with co-founders Dr. Pauric Bannigan (chief scientific officer) and Dr. Riley Hickman (director of research and development), Intrepid’s leadership team leverages expertise in drug delivery, laboratory automation, and AI-driven formulation.

Intrepid partners with leading pharmaceutical companies, CROs, CDMOs, and biotechs to accelerate research and development (R&D) and enhance formulation strategies. The company is also advancing an internal pipeline of proprietary drug delivery technologies available for licensing. Based in the MaRS Discovery District in Toronto, Intrepid is reshaping how the industry approaches drug formulation R&D. Companies with active pharmaceutical ingredients or candidates requiring formulation solutions are encouraged to contact Intrepid at [e-mail].