STAT+: AI titans push Congress for DNA safeguards

STAT PlusNewsletterThe Readout AI titans push Congress for DNA safeguards Inceptive Nucleics and Alnylam’s partnership, why Grail’s “failed” trial still matters, and other biotech news from The Readout Manage alerts for this article Email this article Share this article By Meghana KeshavanJune 4, 2026 Biotech Correspondent Meghana Keshavan[email protected]Meghana Keshavan covers biotech and contributes to The Readout newsletter. Want to stay on top of the science and politics driving biotech today? Sign up to get our biotech newsletter in your inbox. The inventor of some of AI’s technical underpinnings is shifting focus to an RNA startup. Also, Rick Pazdur has some ideas on how to determine whether Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer drug can work in a first-line setting. And an oncologist explains why she believes the failed Grail trial matters.Advertisement The AI architect taking aim at RNAi Jakob Uszkoreit helped create the transformer architecture — the “T” in ChatGPT — that sparked the generative AI boom. Now he’s trying to do something just as ambitious in drug development, STAT’s Brittany Trang writes. His startup, Inceptive Nucleics, is building biological foundation models that can be applied across a wide range of sequence-based medicines, from RNA interference therapies to mRNA and antisense drugs. STAT+ Exclusive Story Already have an account? Log in This article is exclusive to STAT+ subscribers Unlock this article — plus in-depth analysis, newsletters, premium events, and news alerts. Already have an account? Log in Monthly $39 Totals $468 per year $39/month Get Started Totals $468 per year Starter $30 for 3 months, then $399/year $30 for 3 months Get Started Then $399/year Annual $399 Save 15% $399/year Get Started Save 15% 11+ Users Custom Savings start at 25%! Request A Quote Request A Quote Savings start at 25%! 2-10 Users $300 Annually per user $300/year Get Started $300 Annually per user View All Plans To read the rest of this story subscribe to STAT+. Subscribe Log In biotechnology, drug development, Drug prices, research Submit a correction requestReprints Meghana Keshavan Biotech Correspondent Meghana Keshavan covers biotech and contributes to The Readout newsletter. Newsletter Your morning rundown of the science, politics, and money driving biotech today Recommended Adam's Biotech Scorecard June 4, 2026 STAT Plus: Does Revolution Medicines’ pancreatic cancer drug have even greater potential? First Opinion June 4, 2026 Grail’s multi-cancer early detection trial was negative. But as an oncologist, I see more to this story Advertisement Biotech June 3, 2026 STAT Plus: Alnylam to partner with Inceptive Nucleics for AI foundation models for RNAi therapeutics The Readout June 3, 2026 STAT Plus: Legend Biotech emerged as a rare market winner Biotech June 2, 2026 STAT Plus: Longevity startup NewLimit raises $435 million ahead of first clinical trial Subscriber Picks