Novartis will gain access to Chai Discovery’s AI design models and platform to support therapeutic antibody discovery across multiple targets
SAN FRANCISCO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Chai Discovery, the AI company building a computer-aided design suite for molecules, today announced a collaboration with Novartis to advance the discovery of therapeutic antibodies using artificial intelligence.
Under the collaboration, Novartis will gain access to Chai’s latest AI models, including the Chai-3 model, to support Novartis in the discovery of antibodies for therapeutic programs across multiple targets.
The agreement builds on more than a year of technical engagement between the two companies, including early access to Chai’s next-generation folding model last spring. After tracking Chai’s progress in AI-driven molecular design over the past year, Novartis and Chai are now extending their work together to support broader deployment across multiple therapeutic programs.
Chai Discovery uses AI to predict and reprogram molecular interactions, helping scientists design new biomolecules with specific properties. Chai’s AI models are designed to accelerate drug discovery by generating molecules based on defined criteria and compressing discovery cycles.
“We are delighted to be collaborating with Novartis in the discovery of new antibodies,” said Joshua Meier, co-founder and CEO of Chai Discovery. “This is a significant step forward in expanding the range of therapeutic programs that can benefit from AI-driven molecular design.”
“AI is already reshaping how we discover medicines,” said Fiona Marshall, President of Biomedical Research at Novartis. “By applying advanced models to challenges like antibody design, we can explore a broader range of possibilities, make better decisions earlier, and focus our efforts on the most promising candidates. Our collaboration with Chai Discovery brings complementary expertise to tackle difficult targets and advance progress toward new options for patients.”
Chai Discovery’s collaboration with Novartis follows previously announced customer agreements with Pfizer and Eli Lilly. Financial terms of the agreement with Novartis are not being disclosed.
About Chai Discovery
Chai Discovery is building a world where new medicines are not found through trial and error, but designed with the precision, speed and scale of modern engineering. Chai’s models are designed to reason about biological structure and function, generate new molecular designs from scratch, and help pharma teams pursue targets that traditional discovery methods have struggled to reach.
Founded in 2024 by Joshua Meier, Jack Dent, Matthew McPartlon and Jacques Boitreaud, Chai Discovery is based in San Francisco, California. With backgrounds spanning OpenAI, Meta FAIR, Stripe, molecular design and academic research, the team shares a singular vision: to bring the precision and predictability of engineering to one of the hardest problems in science - better, faster therapeutics, for even the toughest 'undruggable' conditions.
Chai Discovery is backed by top investors, including Oak HC/FT, General Catalyst, OpenAI, Thrive Capital, Menlo Ventures and Dimension.
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