Verily Explained

Verily Life Sciences LLC
Type:	Subsidiary
Key People:	Stephen Gillett (CEO)
Industry:	Health care Biotechnology
Owner:	Google Inc. (until 2015) Alphabet Inc. (2015–present)
Parent:	Alphabet Inc.
Subsid:	Lift Labs
Hq Location:	Dallas, Texas
Former Name:	Google Life Sciences
Revenue:	US$559 million (2022)
Operating Income:	−US$568 million (2022)
Num Employees:	(2023)
Footnotes:	^[1]

Verily Life Sciences LLC,^[2] also known as Verily (formerly Google Life Sciences), is Alphabet Inc.'s research organization devoted to the study of life sciences.^{[3] [4]} The organization was formerly a division of Google X, until August 10, 2015, when Sergey Brin announced that the organization would become an independent subsidiary of Alphabet Inc.^[5] with restructuring completed on October 2, 2015. On December 7, 2015, Google Life Sciences was renamed Verily.^{[6] [7]}

Early Researchers

At the time of Verily's formation in 2015, the members of the research team that contributed to the founding patent portfolio include:^[8]

History

On 9 September 2014, the division acquired Lift Labs, the makers of Liftware.^[9]

Verily Life Sciences in January 2019 raised $1 billion in funding.

At the end of 2019, Verily sold its stake in robot-assisted surgery joint venture Verb Surgical to development partner Johnson & Johnson.^[10]

In August 2020, Verily announced that it is entering into the insurance market with the launch of Coefficient Insurance Company. The new subsidiary will be backed by Swiss Re Group's commercial insurance unit.^[11]

In September 2022, Verily announced longtime CEO Andy Conrad would step down as CEO in January 2023, to be replaced by Stephen Gillett^[12] who became CEO on January 3, 2023.^[13]

In January 2023, fifteen percent of Verily's workforce was laid off as part of a broader restructuring by parent company, Alphabet.^[14] The Information reported in August that Gillett had told employees they would stop relying on Alphabet on "a wide range of corporate services", signaling a potential spin-out as an independent company.^[15]

In June 2024, Verily decided to close its operations in Israel three years after opening a research and development center in the country. Verily staff in Israel are expected to leave by the third quarter of 2024. The company cited an effort to refocus its strategy on core products and projects as the reason for the closure.^[16]

In August 2024, Verily moved its headquarters from South San Francisco to Dallas citing significant investment and involvement in the Texas healthcare and technology sectors.^[17]

Projects

• The Dexcom G7 continuous glucose monitors (CGM), developed in partnership with Dexcom, was FDA approved and launched worldwide in 2022.^{[18] [19]}
• Galvani Bioelectronics, treating chronic conditions, including Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA), through targeted neuromodulation therapies, a joint venture with GlaxoSmithKline^[20]
• Verb Surgical, for advancements in surgical robotics, a joint venture with Johnson & Johnson.^[21]
• A spoon for people with tremors as part of Lift Labs acquisition.^{[22] [23]}
• The Baseline Study, a project to collect genetic, molecular, and wearable device information from enough people to create a picture of what a healthy human should be.^[24]
• Onduo, a chronic disease management platform for patient with Diabetes, developed in partnership with Sanofi.^[25]
• Study Watch, a health-tracking watch for clinical trials.^[26]

Discontinued

• Contact lenses that allow people with diabetes to continually check their glucose levels using a non-intrusive method.^[27] On November 16, 2018, Verily announced it discontinued this project.^[28]
• Smart shoes for health tracking and fall detection^[29]
• Skin research with L’Oréal^[30]
• A disease-detecting nanoparticle platform^[31] working with the wristband, a project called Tricorder.^[32]

See also

• Calico
• Galvani Bioelectronics

Notes and References

1. News: Tanna . Shivani . August 16, 2023 . Alphabet's Verily plans cost cuts amid pressure on Other Bets unit - WSJ . Reuters.
2. Web site: 2015-08-03 . Verily Life Sciences LLC . 2023-08-19 . OpenCorporates.
3. Web site: NIH Director?s Statement Regarding Dr. Thomas Insel?s Departure - the NIH Director - National Institutes of Health (NIH) . September 15, 2015 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20150918002515/http://www.nih.gov/about/director/09152015_statement_insel.htm . September 18, 2015 .
4. News: Carey. Benedict. Head of Mental Health Institute Leaving for Google Life Sciences. New York Times. September 15, 2015 .
5. Web site: Brin. Sergey. Google+ Post.
6. Web site: Google Life Sciences debuts a new name, Verily. STAT. December 7, 2015 . 2015-12-07.
7. Web site: Introducing Verily. December 7, 2015. YouTube. December 24, 2017.
8. Web site: Google Assigns 148 Medical Patents to Verily Life Sciences . Bill . Slawski . seobythesea.com . March 14, 2016 . 13 September 2016.
9. Web site: Google Continues To Build Upon Its Life Sciences Ecosystem . Amit . Chowdhry . forbes.com . 10 September 2014 . 13 September 2014.
10. Web site: Johnson & Johnson to take over Verb Surgical, its robotics venture with Verily . Hale . Conor . December 20, 2019 . January 7, 2020 . FierceBiotech.com . https://web.archive.org/web/20200108044643/https://www.fiercebiotech.com/medtech/j-j-to-take-over-verb-surgical-its-robotics-venture-verily . January 8, 2020 . live.
11. Web site: Peters. Jay. 2020-08-25. Verily, Google's health-focused sister company, is getting into insurance. 2020-09-16. The Verge. en.
12. Web site: Alba, Love . 9 September 2022 . Alphabet's Verily Raises $1 Billion and Shakes Up Leadership Team . .
13. Web site: Scott . 12 January 2023 . New Verily Life Sciences CEO to Cut 15% of Staff, Shake Up C-Suite .
14. News: Weise . Karen . Grant . Nico . Isaac . Mike . 2023-03-08 . The Perils of Working on a C.E.O.'s Pet Project . en-US . The New York Times . 2023-03-13 . 0362-4331.
15. Web site: Victor . Jon . August 17, 2023 . Alphabet's Verily Moves Toward Spinoff as Revenue Surges . subscription . live . https://web.archive.org/web/20230817162858/https://www.theinformation.com/articles/alphabets-verily-moves-toward-spinoff-as-revenue-surges . August 17, 2023 . August 21, 2023 . The Information.
16. News: Robins-Early . Nick . 2024-06-28 . Google’s biotech company pulls out of Israel but says Gaza war not the reason . 2024-06-29 . The Guardian . en-GB . 0261-3077.
17. News: Another Bay Area tech company plans to move headquarters to Texas . The San Francisco Chronicle.
18. Web site: Verily Life Sciences . 2017-02-15 . verily.com.
19. Web site: Dexcom G7 CGM - Powerfully simple diabetes management . 2023-06-28 . Dexcom . en-US.
20. Web site: Verily Life Sciences . 2017-02-15 . verily.com.
21. Web site: Ackerman . Evan . 3 March 2016 . Google and Johnson & Johnson Conjugate to Create Verb Surgical, Promise Fancy Medical Robots . 3 March 2016 . IEEE Spectrum.
22. Web site: Google launches 'smart' spoon to help steady shaking hands. Rushe. Dominic. 2014-11-25. The Guardian. 25 November 2014.
23. Web site: Liftware Steady Liftware . 2023-06-28 . www.liftware.com.
24. Web site: Google X sets out to define healthy human | Science/AAAS | News . Jocelyn . Kaiser . news.sciencemag.org . 28 July 2014 . 13 September 2014.
25. Web site: Sanofi and Verily Life Sciences Announce Launch of Onduo, a Joint Venture to Develop Comprehensive Diabetes Management Platform - Sep 12, 2016. news.sanofi.us. en. 2018-08-16.
26. Web site: Verily Life Sciences . 2023-03-08 . verily.com.
27. Web site: Brian Otis . Babak Parviz . 2014-01-16 . Introducing our smart contact lens project . 2014-01-17 . Google.
28. Web site: Brian Otis . 16 November 2018 . Update on our Smart Lens program with Alcon . 21 November 2018 . Verily Blog.
29. News: Verily developing smart shoes for health and weight tracking, fall detection. Li. Abner. 1 February 2019. 9to5Google. 1 February 2019.
30. Web site: 2022-01-20. Verily and L'Oréal team up on skin research and new digital tools. 2022-01-30. MobiHealthNews. en.
31. News: Gibbs. Samuel. Google is developing a cancer and heart attack-detecting pill. 20 January 2015. The Guardian. 29 October 2014.
32. News: 'Silicon Valley arrogance'? Google misfires as it strives to turn Star Trek technology into reality. 6 June 2016.