Elix and PRISM BioLab Join Forces to Accelerate AI-Driven Drug Discovery for Challenging Protein-Protein Interaction Targets

TOKYO--( BUSINESS WIRE )-- Elix, Inc. (CEO: Shinya Yuki / HQ: Tokyo, hereinafter “Elix”), an AI drug discovery company with the mission of “Rethinking Drug Discovery”, today announced that it has entered into a drug discovery collaboration with PRISM BioLab, Co. Ltd. (CEO: Dai Takehara / HQ: Kanagawa, hereinafter "PRISM BioLab"), effective April 1, 2025.

This partnership will accelerate research on these challenging molecular targets by combining Elix's cutting-edge AI drug discovery platform with PRISM BioLab's proprietary peptide mimetic technology for controlling protein-protein interactions.

In drug discovery, generating a clinical candidate molecule typically takes a long time and requires the synthesis of hundreds to thousands of compounds, making research and development efficiency a critical challenge.

Through this partnership, Elix's AI drug discovery platform Elix Discovery™” will be integrated with PRISM BioLab's proprietary small molecule peptide-mimetic PepMetics® technology. This collaboration will expand the scope of AI-driven exploration to include previously unconsidered small molecules, enabling the efficient identification of promising compounds for traditionally difficult targets and accelerating the creation of breakthrough drug candidates. By leveraging both companies' AI capabilities and medicinal chemistry expertise, the partnership aims to reduce time and costs, and improve the success rate of drug discovery, ultimately delivering innovative treatments for unmet medical needs.

Prior to this collaboration, Elix and PRISM BioLab conducted a pilot project in which Elix utilized AI-driven compound design strategies based on the molecular structures provided by PRISM BioLab. This collaboration successfully identified novel hit compounds that were entirely different from those achieved using conventional approaches. Building on this successful experience, the partnership aims to further enhance the efficiency of drug discovery and improve success rates through a deeper integration of both companies’ technologies.

Comments from Key Personnel

PRISM BioLab CTO Tatsuya Toma Ph.D.:
Improving drug discovery efficiency is an eternal challenge. Delivering better medicines to patients and healthcare professionals as quickly as possible requires innovation. Our PepMetics® technology has characteristics that are highly compatible with AI applications. Elix is not only a professional in AI and machine learning but also expanding their knowledge and understanding of drug discovery while maintaining a flexible corporate culture. They have shown great interest in PepMetics® features, and I believe we can advance comprehensive drug discovery research together, leveraging PepMetics® characteristics to accelerate the process.

Elix co-founder and CEO Shinya Yuki, Ph.D.:
Through a successful pilot project with PRISM BioLab, we achieved breakthrough results by creating novel compound candidates with an efficiency that would be unimaginable using conventional approaches. That experience clearly demonstrated that the combination of our companies' technologies and expertise holds tremendous potential in drug discovery. I am genuinely looking forward to this business partnership, where we can leverage our complementary strengths to pursue outcomes that neither company could achieve alone.

Elix Lead Scientist Tasuku Ishida, Ph.D.:
The development of protein-protein interaction inhibitors is highly challenging, with only a limited number of successful cases to date. PRISM BioLab is tackling this demanding field by leveraging its unique, proprietary PepMetics® technology. We are delighted that Elix's AI-driven drug discovery platform has contributed to the progress of PRISM BioLab’s project. By combining PepMetics®, which mimics key protein substructures using small molecules, and AI-powered drug discovery capability of Elix Discovery™, we will continue to make every effort to overcome drug discovery challenges that would be difficult to achieve independently.

About PRISM BioLab
PRISM BioLab is a discovery and development biotechnology company utilizing proprietary PepMetics® technology to discover orally available small molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interaction (PPI) targets and transform lives of patients suffering from cancer, autoimmune, fibrosis and other diseases. PepMetics® are a unique class of small molecules that mimic three-dimensional structures of alpha-helix and beta-turn, the peptide structures commonly found in intracellular PPI interphases and receptor-ligand interactions. By combining proprietary chemistry, know-how around PPI targets and AI-supported design, PepMetics® technology can deliver inhibitors of challenging PPI targets. The technology holds promise to expand the field of drug discovery by turning previously undruggable PPIs into targets readily druggable with small molecules and by generating oral small molecule alternatives for injectable biologics. PRISM BioLab is collaborating on new PPI targets with global and Japanese pharmaceutical companies. PepMetics® targeting CBP/beta-catenin PPIs licensed to Eisai Co., Ltd. and Ohara Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. are in clinical development for cancer and liver disease, respectively.
www.prismbiolab.com

About Elix
Elix is an AI drug discovery company with the mission of “Rethinking drug discovery”. Through our flagship software platform, Elix Discovery™, and collaborative consulting engagements, we work with leading pharmaceutical companies and biotech startups to reduce the enormous costs and time associated with drug discovery, while improving the rate of successful outcomes. We achieve these goals via our company’s unique blend of AI engineering and medicinal chemistry expertise that allows us to stay at the forefront of development in both fields, and offer the solutions of tomorrow to the problems of today.
https://www.elix-inc.com/

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