TandemAI, a leading AI and physics-based drug discovery company, has completed a strategic merger with Perpetual Medicines, a computational peptide therapeutics firm, creating an expanded platform that combines advanced artificial intelligence capabilities for both small molecule and peptide drug discovery. The combined company will operate under the TandemAI name, with Perpetual Medicines functioning as a separate operating entity within the merged organization.
Leadership and Structure
The merged entity will be led by TandemAI co-founder and CEO Jeff He, MBA, while Perpetual Medicines will be headed by its co-founder, Chairman and Chief Executive Officer Kerry L. Blanchard, MD, PhD, and Chief Scientific Officer Ved Srivastava, PhD. Financial terms of the merger were not disclosed.
"TandemAI was established with a vision to transform drug discovery by enabling broad access to the most advanced AI and physics based computational tools for integrated drug discovery," said He. "Executing on that vision, in less than four years we have collaborated on small molecule discovery programs with more than 150 partners, including biotechnology firms, multi-national pharmaceutical companies, and academic institutions in the U.S., Europe and China."
Clinical Pipeline Progress
The merger comes at a time of significant momentum for TandemAI's platform, with more than ten client programs expected to reach clinical trials within the next 12 months. This milestone demonstrates the commercial viability and scientific validation of the company's AI-driven approach to drug discovery.
TandemAI has established a global R&D network across New York, Boston, Shanghai, and Suzhou, serving over 150 biopharmaceutical companies and accelerating more than 50 innovative drug pipelines. The company has achieved 10x revenue growth and earned recognition including "China Innovative Digital Healthcare TOP100," "Forbes Asia 100 to Watch," and inclusion in the "Nature Index Global AI Drug Discovery Innovation Landscape."
Peptide Therapeutics Opportunity
The strategic combination is designed to capitalize on the growing commercial opportunity in peptide-based therapeutics. Dr. Blanchard noted that "the commercial and clinical successes of GLP-1, IL-23, and PCSK9 drug classes have greatly expanded the global commercial opportunity for peptide-based therapeutics."
The Perpetual leadership team brings extensive experience in peptide drug development, having been instrumental in the discovery and development of multiple marketed peptide drugs including Byetta (exenatide), Symlin (pramlintide), and Bydureon (exenatide extended release). Dr. Blanchard has played a key role in four marketed products and the clinical development and approval of more than 30 new medicines in China.
Technology Platform Integration
TandemAI's platform integrates generative AI, physics-based modeling including molecular dynamics and quantum mechanics, and its proprietary TandemViz™ SaaS platform with large-scale chemistry and biology laboratories. This computation-first approach covers the entire drug development process from target prediction to clinical candidate determination.
Perpetual Medicines contributes a fully integrated computational peptide therapeutics platform that combines leading-edge computational physics methods and next-generation AI technologies with advanced synthetic chemistry. Since its founding in 2023, Perpetual has built and validated its AI/computational platform and automated peptide synthesis technology, achieving preclinical, in vivo proof of concept with its lead program to develop orally available cyclic peptides.
Strategic Synergies
"This strategic combination is driven by TandemAI's success in commercializing its physics and AI-based platform for small molecule discovery integrated with wet-lab experimentation and the enormous emerging opportunity afforded by the convergence of high biopharma interest in next generation peptide therapeutics," said Lanny Sun, co-founder of both Perpetual Medicines and TandemAI.
The merger positions the combined company to explore the application of advanced AI and physics-based methods to additional therapeutic modalities beyond small molecules and peptides. Perpetual's platform is specifically designed to capitalize on unexplored peptide chemical space to discover new therapeutics with novel attributes and address previously undruggable targets.
