Pharma's $1B bottleneck meets AI

PLUS: Uber to add helicopter rides to app

AuthorAuthor

Jennifer Mossalgue & Rowan Cheung
September 12, 2025

Good morning, tech enthusiasts. AI promises to shrink drug discovery timelines from decades to months. DeepMind’s Demis Hassabis says AI will radically disrupt pharma, though the first AI-designed drugs are only just entering clinical trials.

Algorithms can model how molecules ought to behave — but whether those predictions hold up inside actual patients remains the ultimate test.

In today’s tech rundown:

  • DeepMind's bold drug discovery promise

  • Uber’s next ride: helicopters

  • Space travel triggers rapid human aging

  • Rocket Lab is gunning for SpaceX

  • Quick hits on other tech news

LATEST DEVELOPMENTS

DEEPMIND

Image source: Jay Dixit/Wikimedia Commons

The Rundown: DeepMind CEO Demis Hassabis told Bloomberg that AI is about to transform the painfully slow drug discovery process that has defined pharma for decades, compressing drug discovery timelines from a decade to months.

The details:

  • DeepMind’s AlphaFold and spin-off Isomorphic Labs use AI to predict protein structures, accelerating the creation of targeted medicines.

  • These new tools reportedly reduce failure rates and cut costs by modeling molecular interactions more efficiently than human researchers.

  • AI systems such as AlphaFold 3 now analyze dynamic protein interactions, paving the way for more precise drug designs.

  • Isomorphic Labs expects its first AI-designed drugs to enter clinical trials this year.

Why it matters: The current system is brutally inefficient: 90% of drugs fail in trials, each success costs over $2B, and the average development timeline stretches 10-15 years. If the hype is true, AI could flip that equation, making disease research more viable and turning personalized medicine from pipe dream to production line.

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UBER

Image source: Blade

The Rundown: Uber is putting helicopter rides on the menu for city dwellers, teaming up with electric air taxi upstart Joby Aviation to launch Blade helicopter flights via its app as soon as 2026.

The details:

  • The move follows Joby Aviation’s $125M acquisition of Blade’s passenger air division, excluding Blade’s medical transport unit.

  • Blade already operates in NYC, Southern Europe, and select premium markets, flying over 50K passengers in 2024 from 12 urban terminals.

  • Initial helicopter routes will target high-traffic corridors, especially airport shuttles in major cities.

  • This partnership is seen as a stepping stone for launching Joby’s future electric air taxis, with Dubai and the U.S. named as launch markets.

Why it matters: The deal positions both firms to capture a share of what analysts say could grow into a $1T urban air-mobility market. It also starts to shape the regulatory architecture and gauge consumer appetite for electric aircraft — both prerequisites if such services are to become the new, hot city transport in the coming decade.

UC SAN DIEGO

Image source: Sanford Stem Cell Institute

The Rundown: A new landmark study reveals that human stem cells in space age at a terrifying pace, showing cellular decline up to 10 times faster than on Earth. The final frontier just got a biological reality check.

The details:

  • UC San Diego’s Sanford Stem Cell Institute tracked bone marrow stem cells sent to the International Space Station across four SpaceX missions.

  • AI-driven bioreactors continuously monitored these cells in orbit for up to 45 days, as they spiraled through a cascade of biological changes.

  • The stem cells lost their capacity to rest and replenish, became overactive, burned through energy reserves, and showed increased DNA damage.

  • These stressed blood-making cells also began activating “dark genome” sequences, dormant genetic code linked to inflammation and cancer risk.

Why it matters: This cellular meltdown shows how microgravity and cosmic radiation push human stem cells into a metabolic tailspin, threatening immune health and regenerative repair for astronauts on long missions. But there's hope: when these space-aged cells returned to a healthy environment, some aging signs reversed.

ROCKET LAB

Image source: Rocket Lab

The Rundown: Rocket Lab is rapidly evolving from the small-launch industry's reliable workhorse into a legitimate challenger to SpaceX's dominance, having already logged 12 flawless Electron missions in 2025 with more scheduled before year's end.

The details:

  • Fast Company writes that the New Zealand company is betting everything on a dramatic scale-up that could reshape the commercial space landscape.

  • Rocket Lab christened Launch Complex 3 in Virginia this August — a purpose-built facility for testing, launching, and landing its reusable Neutron rocket

  • Neutron is engineered as a fully reusable, medium-lift vehicle to deliver up to nearly 28K lb. to low Earth orbit, targeting larger constellation deployments.

  • Rocket Lab is one of just four providers selected for the U.S. Space Force’s $5.6B National Security Space Launch program.

Why it matters: SpaceX has dominated commercial launch, but Rocket Lab's Neutron could finally provide customers a viable alternative amid the satellite constellation boom. Success would secure Rocket Lab lofty Pentagon contracts and prove nimble competitors can challenge bigger rivals.

QUICK HITS

📰 Everything else in tech today

The FDA has cleared Apple Watch's new hypertension alerts, which will roll out next week with watchOS 26 and support both new and older compatible models.

Elon Musk’s Boring Company has reportedly halted work on its Las Vegas airport tunnel after a worker suffered a “crushing injury,” prompting an OSHA investigation.

Nuclear tech firm Oklo announced plans to build the U.S.'s first privately funded nuclear fuel recycling facility in Tennessee, with an investment of up to $1.68B.

NASA reportedly has blocked Chinese citizens with valid U.S. visas from accessing its facilities, effectively preventing them from working at the agency.

Rapport Therapeutics announced that its experimental drug RAP-219 reduced seizures by an average of 77.8% in a Phase 2a trial for drug-resistant epilepsy.

Amazon is eliminating its "Prime Invitee" program on Oct. 1, ending the ability for Prime members to share free shipping with family or friends outside their household.

Chinese EV maker Xpeng is recalling 47,490 P7+ sedans, affecting at least 70% of owners, due to a steering defect that poses a safety risk.

Quantum computing startup PsiQuantum has raised $1B at a $7B valuation and is collaborating with Nvidia to develop its large-scale, fault-tolerant quantum computers.

Lyft has launched its first commercial robotaxi service in Atlanta with May Mobility as the company seeks to catch up with Uber and Waymo.

COMMUNITY

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Rowan, Jennifer, and Joey—The Rundown’s editorial team

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