The Dynamics of Emergent Innovation

This week on No Priors, Sarah sits down with Noubar Afeyan, Co-founder and CEO of Flagship Pioneering, the biotech firm behind groundbreaking companies like Moderna. They explore how Flagship creates the conditions for scientific breakthroughs, tackles regulatory uncertainty, and pushes the boundaries of discovery. Noubar shares insights on AI’s role in healthcare, the challenges of bringing new therapies to market, and lessons learned from past pandemics. He also discusses Flagship’s platform approach to biotech innovation and introduces the idea of polyintelligence.

Sign up for new podcasts every week. Email feedback to show@no-priors.com

Follow us on Twitter: @NoPriorsPod | @Saranormous | @EladGil | @NoubarAfeyan

Show Notes: 

0:00 Introduction

0:48 Founding Flagship 

5:51 Fostering environments for emergence

11:17 Expanding into new frontiers

14:26 Developing technology amid regulatory uncertainty and risk

19:12 How Flagship has evolved

22:47 AI applications in healthcare

27:30 Bottlenecks in bringing new therapies to market

32:20 Lessons for the next pandemic

34:11 Building a platform

38:10 Polyintelligence