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Sam Altman Self-Dealing & Conflict Architecture

Project Covalence

COVID-19 Clinical Trial Platform · Nonprofit-Funded, For-Profit-Trademarked · The Pipeline

Last updated: May 2026 | Compiled from press releases, IRS filings, USPTO records, WIPO records, ClinicalTrials.gov, Google Sheets archives, and independent research

A COVID-19 clinical trial platform launched June 16, 2020, framed as a public health initiative, funded by Sam Altman’s nonprofit (OpenResearch), built on TrialSpark’s for-profit infrastructure, trademarked by the for-profit 34 days after launch, and followed by Altman’s personal $156M investment in the for-profit company. The platform conducted one documented study. The nonprofit paid. The for-profit kept the IP. The investor captured the value.

Basic Information

FieldDetail
NameProject Covalence
Parent entityTrialSpark Inc (now Formation Bio Inc, DE File #5549635)
TypeCOVID-19 clinical trial platform / initiative
LaunchedJune 16, 2020
StatusInactive — no public updates since 2020-2021; website (projectcovalence.com) remains live with launch content only
Funding sourceOpenResearch (Open Research Lab Inc, EIN 81-0861414) — $1,000,000 grant, FY2020 Schedule I
TrademarkUS Application 90062822 (filed July 20, 2020 — 34 days after launch); Canadian Registration 2101445; WIPO 1587792
Trademark ownerTrialSpark Inc (the for-profit), NOT OpenResearch (the nonprofit that funded it)

Key Personnel

NameRoleBackgroundNetwork Connection
Sam Altman“CEO of OpenAI” (as titled in press release)YC former president, OpenAI CEO, personal investor in 400+ companiesFounded OpenResearch which funded Covalence. Later co-led TrialSpark $156M Series C. OpenAI later partnered with Formation Bio for Muse platform (Nov 2024).
Dr. Mark C. FishmanPhysician-scientist, Harvard professorYale BA, Harvard MD. Founding President of Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) 2002-2016. National Academy of Medicine member.14 years leading Novartis drug discovery. TrialSpark CMO Ken Somberg spent 12 years at Novartis during overlapping period — not disclosed in Covalence press materials. 1
Dr. Ken SombergCMO, TrialSparkStanford BA, Duke MBA, Baylor MD. UCSF faculty. 12 years at Novartis.Novartis overlap with Fishman undisclosed. Somberg’s Novartis tenure began before Fishman left. 1
Benjamine LiuCEO, TrialSpark / Formation BioOxford-educated. Ran TrialSpark during Covalence and through Formation Bio rebrand.Led the entity that trademarked Covalence, rebranded to Formation Bio, and built Muse with OpenAI.
Dr. Michael MinaLead investigator, serology studyHarvard T.H. Chan School of Public Health. Epidemiologist.Led the ONLY documented Covalence study. Left Harvard entirely November 2021 for eMed (private rapid-testing company). 2

The Self-Dealing Pipeline

This is the structural sequence. Each step is documented.

Step 1 — The Spreadsheet (February-March 2020)

Sam Altman published a blog post: “I want to help with COVID.” He created a Google Sheet (“2019 0202 Flatten,” created February 2, 2020) and invited companies and researchers to submit ideas. Hundreds of entries flowed in — from legitimate health companies to a Liechtenstein crypto exchange, mass surveillance tools, BSL4 lab access requests citing OpenAI, and pseudoscience. The spreadsheet was a free deal-sourcing operation disguised as pandemic response. 3

Step 2 — The Platform Launch (June 16, 2020)

Project Covalence launched. Press release listed Altman as “CEO of OpenAI.” The stated mission: “a turnkey trial platform that enables investigators and sponsors to rapidly launch clinical trials for COVID-19.” Built on TrialSpark’s existing clinical trial infrastructure. 4

Step 3 — The Nonprofit Funding

OpenResearch (Open Research Lab Inc, EIN 81-0861414 — Altman’s nonprofit, formerly YC Research) provided $1,000,000 to TrialSpark. This appears on OpenResearch’s FY2020 Schedule I. The press release stated: “OpenResearch, a nonprofit research lab founded by Sam Altman, is helping to fund the first cohort of studies.” Nonprofit money funded a for-profit company’s platform. 5

Step 4 — The Trademark (July 20, 2020)

34 days after launch, TrialSpark filed to trademark “Project Covalence” (US Application 90062822). The trademark was registered to TrialSpark — the FOR-PROFIT company — not to OpenResearch, the nonprofit that funded it. Additional registrations: Canada (2101445) and WIPO (1587792). The nonprofit paid for the platform. The for-profit trademarked the name. 6

Step 5 — The Only Study

The only documented study conducted through Project Covalence was a serological surveillance study led by Dr. Michael Mina of Harvard, which enrolled 500 participants within 10 days of launch. No additional clinical trials for treatments, vaccines, or therapeutics have been publicly documented through the platform. Mina left Harvard entirely in November 2021 to join eMed, a private rapid-testing company. The “turnkey trial platform” for COVID treatments produced one serology study. 2 4

Step 6 — The resTORbio Connection

resTORbio, an anti-aging biotech (NASDAQ: TORC, now ACET), had a drug called RTB-101 (TORC1 inhibitor) that FAILED its Phase III trial for respiratory illness in December 2019 — the same month COVID emerged. The failed respiratory drug was then repurposed for COVID-19 testing through Project Covalence, targeting adults 65+ in NURSING HOMES within the Genesis Healthcare system. Approximately 550 participants targeted. Funded by NIA (National Institute on Aging) grant. A drug that failed for respiratory illness got a second chance through Altman’s pandemic platform, testing on elderly nursing home residents. 7

Step 7 — The Personal Investment (September 2021)

Sam Altman co-led TrialSpark’s $156M Series C. He personally invested in the company whose platform his nonprofit had funded, whose name his nonprofit’s money had helped build, and whose trademark the for-profit owned. The investor captured the value the nonprofit created. 8

Step 8 — The Rebrand (December 2023)

TrialSpark rebranded to Formation Bio. The name “Project Covalence” — which TrialSpark trademarked — connects to “TrialSpark.” “Formation Bio” connects to neither. The rebrand broke the search chain between the pandemic platform and the current company. 9

Step 9 — The OpenAI Partnership (November 2024)

Formation Bio, together with OpenAI and Sanofi, launched “Muse” — an AI-powered tool for clinical trial optimization. The company Altman’s nonprofit funded, that Altman personally invested in, now officially partners with Altman’s AI company. The circle closed. 10

The Pipeline Summary

Blog post ("I want to help with COVID")
    → Spreadsheet (free deal sourcing from hundreds of companies)
        → Project Covalence (turnkey trial platform)
            → Nonprofit funding ($1M from OpenResearch)
                → For-profit trademark (TrialSpark owns the name)
                    → One study conducted (serology, not treatment)
                        → Personal investment ($156M Series C)
                            → Rebrand (TrialSpark → Formation Bio)
                                → OpenAI partnership (Muse, Nov 2024)

The nonprofit paid. The for-profit trademarked. The investor captured. The platform went quiet. The company rebranded. The AI partnership began. Each step is documented. Each step moved value from nonprofit to for-profit to personal investment to corporate partnership.

The H.I.G. Capital / Celerion Connection

Formation Bio’s Head of Investments spent seven years at H.I.G. BioHealth Partners. H.I.G. Capital subsequently acquired Celerion — Formation Bio’s sole documented clinical trial site. H.I.G. then sold Celerion to THL Partners for $1.8 billion on April 22, 2026. The person who evaluates Formation Bio’s investments spent seven years at the firm that owned Formation Bio’s trial site. 11

The Fishman-Somberg Novartis Overlap

Dr. Fishman was founding president of the Novartis Institutes for BioMedical Research (NIBR) from 2002-2016. Dr. Somberg (TrialSpark CMO) spent 12 years at Novartis during an overlapping period — his tenure began before Fishman left. This means the Harvard professor and the TrialSpark CMO who jointly launched Project Covalence had a prior institutional relationship at Novartis that spanned years. This is not disclosed in the Project Covalence press materials. 1

What Happened to Project Covalence?

The website (projectcovalence.com) remains live as of the most recent check but contains no updates beyond the initial launch content. No clinical trials beyond the Mina serology study have been publicly documented. The “turnkey trial platform that enables investigators and sponsors to rapidly launch clinical trials for COVID-19” launched one study and went quiet. The trademark remains active. The name appeared in no Formation Bio materials after the rebrand. 4

The platform that was funded by a nonprofit, built during a pandemic, and trademarked by a for-profit — produced one serology study and became a line item in the trademark portfolio of a company that changed its name twice.

Nodes of Interest

NODE: NONPROFIT PAID, FOR-PROFIT TRADEMARKED. OpenResearch gave $1M to TrialSpark (FY2020 Schedule I). TrialSpark trademarked “Project Covalence” 34 days after launch (US 90062822). The nonprofit funded the platform; the for-profit owns the name. The trademark filing is the timestamp: 34 days after launch, someone at TrialSpark decided the name had commercial value worth protecting — using a brand built with nonprofit money.

NODE: THE SPREADSHEET IS THE FUNNEL. Altman’s COVID spreadsheet collected submissions from hundreds of companies for free. The promising ones got routed to Project Covalence. The platform ran on TrialSpark’s infrastructure. Altman invested $156M in TrialSpark. The pandemic blog post was a deal-sourcing operation with a humanitarian wrapper.

NODE: ONE STUDY. The “turnkey trial platform” for COVID treatments, diagnostics, and vaccines conducted one serological surveillance study. 500 participants. No treatments. No vaccines. No therapeutics. The platform’s stated mission and its documented output are not proportional to $1M in nonprofit funding.

NODE: RESTORBIO IN NURSING HOMES. A drug that failed Phase III for respiratory illness (December 2019) was repurposed for COVID testing on elderly nursing home residents through Project Covalence. Funded by NIA (aging research). Testing a failed respiratory drug on the most vulnerable population during a respiratory pandemic, through a platform funded by a nonprofit.

NODE: FISHMAN-SOMBERG UNDISCLOSED. The Harvard professor and the TrialSpark CMO had overlapping Novartis tenure. Not disclosed in press materials. The “independent collaboration” between a Harvard scientist and a clinical trial company involved two people who had worked at the same pharmaceutical company for years.

NODE: THE CIRCLE CLOSED. Nonprofit (OpenResearch) → funded platform (Covalence) → for-profit (TrialSpark) → personal investment ($156M) → rebrand (Formation Bio) → OpenAI partnership (Muse, Nov 2024) → trial self-dealing exhibit ($19M stake, May 2026). Eight years from nonprofit grant to court exhibit. The value moved from charity to commerce to personal enrichment to corporate partnership in a documented chain.

NODE: NAME CHANGE PATTERN CASE #3. Project Covalence connects to “TrialSpark.” TrialSpark became “Formation Bio.” The Covalence trademark is registered to TrialSpark. The current company is called Formation Bio. The name change broke the search chain between the pandemic platform and the current entity — a $1B+ company whose investors include Altman, Moritz, Sequoia, Thrive, and Doerr.

Citations

Footnotes

  1. Prior investigation sessions (Fishman-Somberg Novartis overlap analysis); Wikipedia (NIBR); LinkedIn (Somberg) ↩ ↩2 ↩3
  2. Prior investigation sessions; TechCrunch November 2021 (Mina departure to eMed) ↩ ↩2
  3. Google Sheet “2019 0202 Flatten” (archived in four formats); Sam Altman blog post March 2020; prior investigation sessions (spreadsheet analysis) ↩
  4. PR Newswire June 16, 2020 (Project Covalence launch press release); projectcovalence.com ↩ ↩2 ↩3
  5. IRS Form 990 (Open Research Lab Inc, EIN 81-0861414), FY2020 Schedule I — $1,000,000 grant to TrialSpark ↩
  6. USPTO (Application 90062822, filed July 20, 2020); Canadian IP Office (Registration 2101445); WIPO (1587792); all registered to TrialSpark Inc ↩
  7. ClinicalTrials.gov (resTORbio/RTB-101 nursing home study); NIA grant records; prior investigation sessions ↩
  8. TechCrunch September 2021 (TrialSpark Series C); prior investigation sessions (Formation Bio investor analysis) ↩
  9. PR Newswire December 5, 2023 (Formation Bio rebrand); prior investigation sessions (name change pattern Case #3) ↩
  10. IntuitionLabs November 12, 2024 (Muse launch — Formation Bio + OpenAI + Sanofi) ↩
  11. Prior investigation sessions (H.I.G. Capital / Celerion / Ramirez analysis); deal announcement April 22, 2026 ↩