Kevin Weil says drug lab work should come back from China

Kevin Weil used to lead science work at OpenAI. He said much of the work that turns a drug idea into a medicine is outsourced to China. He said so on the podcast TBPN, in an episode posted Thursday.

This touches anyone who takes medicine. Where drugs get developed affects what they cost and how fast new ones arrive. It also affects whether the United States keeps the skills to make them.

Weil walked through how a new drug starts. Researchers find a molecule that might work, but it is often toxic or the body can't absorb it. Then comes the slow part, which starts at 51:29.

"The next step in the process is we would go through three to five years of making variations of that molecule," he said.

Weil said that whole stretch is outsourced to China, and Warp plans to bring it back with AI and robots. He compared it to American factories, which he said moved overseas one sensible decision at a time.

Mezha reported Thursday that Weil has launched Warp Sciences to automate drug-discovery labs. The outlet says the startup wants robots to make and test compounds and bring molecule production back from contractors in China.

Weil also said the robotic labs would produce data to train better AI for science. He expects demand to be strong, since billions of dollars already go overseas. Warp is his own company, so he has a stake in that outlook. He didn't say when the labs would match overseas costs.

Watch the 8 minutes where he explains it.48:40