AI Meets Nature: Haleon and Brightseed Team Up to Accelerate Bioactive Discovery for Consumer Health

Courtesy: Brightseed

In a significant step toward fusing advanced technology with the enduring power of nature, consumer health leader Haleon has entered a strategic collaboration with biosciences firm Brightseed to harness artificial intelligence for the discovery of health-boosting plant compounds. The partnership centers around Brightseed’s proprietary AI platform, Forager®, which will be integrated into Haleon’s research workflows to fast-track the identification of bioactive molecules with the potential to improve human health.

The collaboration signals a growing movement in the health and wellness industry: turning to nature-inspired solutions, not through traditional means of extraction and trial-and-error testing, but via high-powered computational insight. Forager uses AI to map bioactives—naturally occurring compounds found in plants and other sources—and understand their mechanisms of action in the human body. This technological edge allows researchers to pinpoint compounds that might affect everything from metabolism to immune response, far more rapidly than conventional methods allow.

For Haleon, whose portfolio includes household names like Sensodyne, Panadol, and Centrum, the deal reflects a broader shift toward data-augmented, science-led innovation. Sandrine Alvarado, VP and Head of Future Horizons R&D at Haleon, described the partnership as “pivotal” in accelerating product development and driving forward what she called “groundbreaking advancements” rooted in rigorous science. “We are thrilled with this partnership that augments our scientific capabilities,” she said, emphasizing Haleon’s commitment to health solutions that are both effective and evidence-based.

Brightseed, meanwhile, brings to the table a track record of innovation in the burgeoning field of bioactives. The company’s AI platform has already helped illuminate potential health benefits from plant-derived compounds across areas like gut health, metabolic balance, and immune support. By embedding Forager directly into Haleon’s scientific teams, the partnership promises to create a feedback loop between computational predictions and real-world health product development.

“Forager’s AI not only accelerates innovation, it also expands possibilities in ways that would have been otherwise intractable,” said Lee Chae, Co-Founder and CEO of Brightseed. “With this collaboration, Haleon is poised to translate those possibilities into an engine for growth.”

This alignment between the two companies reflects a larger trend in the consumer health sector: a demand for natural products backed by credible science. Consumers are increasingly drawn to ingredients sourced from nature, but also expect them to be underpinned by clinical validation and robust scientific research. By combining the mechanistic clarity offered by AI with the functional diversity of the natural world, the Haleon-Brightseed partnership is aiming to bridge that gap.

In practical terms, the integration of Forager could mean faster turnaround from molecular discovery to formulation, better predictability of outcomes, and ultimately, more personalized and effective health products for consumers. For Haleon, it strengthens a pipeline that must respond to both the complexity of global health needs and the evolving expectations of increasingly informed consumers.

As AI continues to infiltrate domains once governed by slower, manual processes, partnerships like this one offer a glimpse into the future of healthcare—one where natural compounds are decoded at digital speed, and where innovation comes as much from data as it does from the soil.