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MIT and Recursion Release Boltz-2: Open-Source AI Model Achieves 1000x Speed Boost in Drug Discovery Screening

AIDrug Discovery
  • MIT and Recursion have released Boltz-2, the first open-source biomolecular co-folding model that jointly predicts 3D complex structures and molecular binding affinity with unprecedented speed and precision.
  • The AI model approaches the accuracy of free energy perturbation (FEP), a gold-standard physics-based method, while performing up to 1,000 times faster, significantly reducing cost and time for large-scale molecular screening.
  • Boltz-2 outperformed all CASP16 affinity challenge participants and is released under the permissive MIT license, making the model, weights, and training pipeline available for both academic and commercial use.
  • The model was trained using Recursion's NVIDIA-powered supercomputer BioHive-2 and incorporates molecular dynamics simulations and approximately 5 million binding affinity measurements.

Denovo Biopharma Forms Neuroscience Advisory Board to Advance Precision Medicine Approach for Treatment-Resistant Depression

Precision MedicineAI
  • Denovo Biopharma has established a neuroscience Scientific Advisory Board chaired by Dr. Charles B. Nemeroff to guide development of its Phase 3-ready biomarker-guided depression therapy DB104.
  • The company's lead asset liafensine is a first-in-class triple reuptake inhibitor that targets serotonin, norepinephrine, and dopamine transporters for treatment-resistant depression.
  • Denovo's AI-based platform identified a novel genetic biomarker at the ANK3 gene that correlates with liafensine efficacy, representing the first genetic biomarker validated in psychiatry.
  • The advisory board includes industry veterans with experience developing major CNS treatments including Cymbalta, Trintellix, and Cobenfy for schizophrenia.

Inka Health Launches Global AI-Oncology Consortium to Advance Predictive Cancer Research

AIOncologyPrecision Medicine
  • Inka Health, a subsidiary of Onco-Innovations Limited, is establishing the PROmAI Consortium to bring together pharmaceutical companies, academic institutions, and data science experts for AI-driven cancer research collaboration.
  • The consortium will focus on developing next-generation AI approaches that integrate real-world and clinical trial data from molecular, imaging, clinical, and other multimodal sources to enhance predictive accuracy in oncology.
  • PROmAI aims to accelerate progress toward personalized, cost-effective cancer care while establishing standards for AI transparency and trustworthiness in clinical drug development contexts.
  • The initiative is currently in its formative phase with formal discussions underway with prospective founding members, representing a strategic milestone in AI-driven oncology innovation.

ByteBrain Launches MEDRAIL AI Platform to Transform Clinical Trial Operations

AI
  • ByteBrain LLC has launched MEDRAIL, an AI-powered platform designed to accelerate clinical trials and enhance safety monitoring through specialized AI agents that handle patient recruitment, protocol monitoring, and compliance tasks.
  • The platform addresses the significant cost and time burden of clinical trials, which can cost up to $3 billion per approved drug and take more than a decade to complete.
  • MEDRAIL features built-in safety verification, explainability with formal logic backing, and compliance with FDA, HIPAA, and ICH-GCP standards while providing complete audit trails.
  • The company has filed for U.S. patent protection under the USPTO's Track One program and plans to release technical papers and pilot studies in the coming months.

FDA Launches AI Tool "Elsa" for Drug Reviews While Novo Nordisk Struggles in Obesity Market Competition

AI
  • The FDA has deployed an internal AI tool called "Elsa" to enhance regulatory processes for drug and medical device reviews, though the system reportedly struggles with error correction.
  • Novo Nordisk, once the leader in obesity treatments with Wegovy and Ozempic, now trails behind Eli Lilly in the competitive weight-loss drug market.
  • Sanofi has made a $9 billion acquisition offer for Blueprint Medicines, highlighting continued consolidation in the biotech sector.
  • The developments reflect significant shifts in both regulatory innovation through AI adoption and the evolving competitive landscape of obesity drug development.

Dr. Elizabeth Mittendorf Outlines Vision as ASCO President-Elect to Advance Multidisciplinary Cancer Care and Workforce Support

AI
  • Dr. Elizabeth Mittendorf, the 2026-2027 ASCO President-Elect, will focus on advancing multidisciplinary collaboration, broadening clinical trial access, and strengthening oncology workforce support during her presidency.
  • As only the fourth surgeon to serve as ASCO president, Mittendorf aims to leverage her surgical oncology perspective to optimize cancer care teams and integrate artificial intelligence technologies into clinical practice.
  • ASCO's strategic priorities under her leadership will center on improving access to care, advancing the profession, and enhancing knowledge while addressing workforce well-being and supporting early-career professionals through mentorship programs.

ImmunoPrecise Achieves AI-Driven Breakthrough in Universal Dengue Vaccine Discovery

AIDrug Discovery
  • ImmunoPrecise Antibodies has identified a highly conserved epitope across all four dengue virus serotypes using its proprietary LENSai™ platform powered by patented HYFT® technology.
  • The discovery represents a major milestone toward developing a universal dengue vaccine by targeting a viral component that remains unchanged despite mutations across all dengue serotypes.
  • The company plans to extend its AI-driven vaccine design platform to other infectious diseases including HIV, Norovirus, and RSV, with early assessments underway for oncology applications.
  • The breakthrough was achieved entirely through computational methods, demonstrating the platform's ability to translate complex biological data into actionable vaccine design without laboratory-based inputs.

Juvenescence Acquires AI Drug Discovery Company Ro5 to Accelerate Age-Related Disease Pipeline

AIDrug Discovery
  • Juvenescence Limited has acquired Ro5 Inc., an AI drug discovery company with a proprietary Biomedical Knowledge Graph comprising over 85 million nodes and 400 million relationships.
  • The acquisition enhances Juvenescence's AI-enabled drug discovery capabilities and supports its strategic partnership with Abu Dhabi-based healthcare company M42.
  • The deal follows a $76 million Series B-1 financing round led by M42, with proceeds supporting clinical milestones across Juvenescence's pipeline targeting age-related diseases in cognition, cardio-metabolism, immunity, and cellular repair.

AI Breakthrough Accelerates Protein Engineering for Next-Generation Therapeutics

AI
  • Scientists from the University of Sheffield and AstraZeneca developed MapDiff, an AI framework that outperforms existing methods for inverse protein folding, a critical process in designing therapeutic proteins.
  • A separate research team from Chongqing University and Zhejiang University created an AI tool that generated 7,245 new proteins designed to bind to targets like viruses and cancer markers.
  • These AI advances could significantly accelerate drug development timelines by reducing months of laboratory work to weeks while improving protein stability and functionality.
  • The breakthrough technologies complement existing tools like AlphaFold and could enable faster development of vaccines, gene therapies, and diagnostic tools.

Elucidata and Sapien Biosciences Form Strategic Partnership to Transform India's Largest Biobank into AI-Ready Data Platform

AIPrecision MedicineDrug Discovery
  • Elucidata and Sapien Biosciences announced a strategic partnership to convert Sapien's 300,000+ patient sample biobank into AI-ready, multimodal data products for drug discovery and diagnostic development.
  • The collaboration will focus initially on building AI models that infer genomic and transcriptomic insights from digital pathology images using NGS-annotated slides from Sapien's cancer biobank.
  • Sapien operates one of the top 10 biobanks globally with over 85,000 cancer patients and represents the largest integrated resource for Asian patient data across multiple disease areas.
  • The partnership aims to address underrepresentation in global omics datasets while accelerating precision medicine through synthetic clinicogenomic data generation.

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