PRISM BioLab and Talus Bioscience Partner to Target Previously Undruggable Protein Interactions Using AI-Guided Drug Discovery
Key Insights
PRISM BioLab (search) and Talus Bioscience (search) announced a collaboration to discover novel inhibitors targeting transcription factors and protein-protein interactions using AI-guided screening technology.
The partnership combines PRISM's proprietary PepMetics (search)® small-molecule libraries with Talus Bio's regulome profiling platform to identify compounds against previously undruggable targets.
The collaboration aims to generate first-in-class therapeutics with direct functional effects on transcription factor (search) and protein-protein interaction (search) activity in live human cells.
PRISM BioLab (search) Co. Ltd. and Talus Bioscience (search) Inc. announced a strategic collaboration to discover novel inhibitors targeting transcription factor (search) (TF) and protein-protein interaction (search) (PPI) targets, combining artificial intelligence-guided screening with proprietary chemistry platforms to address historically undruggable therapeutic targets.
Under the agreement announced December 17, 2025, the companies will deploy PRISM's proprietary small-molecule libraries in Talus Bio's AI-guided regulome profiling screens to identify and optimize novel compounds against high-value TF and PPI targets. The collaboration aims to generate first-in-class chemical matter with direct functional effects on TF and PPI activity in live human cells.
Addressing the Undruggable Challenge
The partnership addresses a fundamental challenge in drug discovery: targeting protein-protein interactions and transcription factors that have remained largely inaccessible to conventional therapeutic approaches. According to Dai Takehara, PRISM's President and CEO, the complex nature of PPI targets makes it challenging to properly model protein-protein interactions in biochemical assays.
"We at PRISM have developed chemistries for PPI targets, but because of the complex nature of these targets, it is often challenging to properly model protein-protein interactions in a biochemical assay," Takehara commented. "Even when we are successful, we can interrogate only one target at a time, whereas Talus Bio technologies can interrogate hundreds to thousands of these targets in parallel and in their native environment."
Technology Integration
The collaboration leverages PRISM's PepMetics (search)® technology, which produces small molecules that mimic three-dimensional structures of alpha-helix and beta-turn peptide structures commonly found in intracellular PPI interfaces and receptor-ligand interactions. This proprietary chemistry platform is designed to deliver inhibitors of challenging PPI targets by combining proprietary chemistry, PPI target expertise, and structure-based design.
Talus Bio contributes its regulome profiling platform, which generates global profiles of the regulome, including transcription factors and other DNA regulators directly in native human cells. The Seattle-based company's technology creates quantitative maps of regulome activity and employs a lab-in-the-loop AI system to discover and optimize small molecules with direct effects on regulome activity.
"This collaboration gives us an unprecedented opportunity to pursue targets that have resisted conventional drug discovery," said Alex Federation, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder of Talus Bio. "Integrating PRISM's chemistry with Talus Bio's regulome profiling and AI models allows us to see, in real time, how compounds reshape transcriptional networks in human cells."
Commercial Structure and Clinical Pipeline
Talus Bio and PRISM will share the costs of discovery research and development and any profits generated from out-licensing and commercialization of discovered drug products. The collaboration represents a systematic, scalable strategy to address TF and PPI targets that have remained undruggable for decades.
PRISM BioLab (search)'s PepMetics (search)® technology has already demonstrated clinical potential, with compounds targeting CBP/beta-catenin (search) PPIs licensed to Eisai Co., Ltd. and Ohara Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. (search) currently in clinical development for cancer (search) and liver disease (search), respectively.
Platform Capabilities
The unified platform created through this collaboration is designed to reveal and modulate regulatory mechanisms across multiple disease areas. PRISM's technology holds promise to expand drug discovery by transforming previously undruggable PPIs into readily druggable targets and generating oral small molecule alternatives for injectable biologics.
Talus Bio, founded in 2020, maintains what it describes as the world's most comprehensive regulome activity dataset, supported by a multidisciplinary team spanning high-throughput proteomics, machine learning, and AI-native drug discovery. The company's platform unlocks new avenues to target historically undruggable proteins that function within the regulome.
The collaboration opens potential therapeutic pathways for diseases caused by previously undruggable targets, including cancer (search), autoimmune disorders (search), fibrosis (search), and other conditions where transcription factor (search) and protein-protein interaction (search) modulation could provide therapeutic benefit.