No Matter What: How Israel Is Positioning Itself as a Global Pharma Innovation Hub

Israel has been a prolific source of biotech and AI-driven startups for years, but can it compete as a strategic R&D partner for global pharma? Mati Gill, CEO of AION Labs, makes the case that it can. AION's venture studio model brings together AstraZeneca, Merck KGaA, Pfizer and Teva under one roof to co-create AI-native drug discovery companies, and its portfolio is already producing results: CombinAbleAI, one of its startups, was acquired by insitro less than two years after it was founded. Gill talks about Israel's genuine strengths in science and technology, the structural gaps that still need closing, and why three years of operating through an active war may actually be a point in the ecosystem's favour for risk-conscious partners. Recorded, with some interruptions, from Tel Aviv.