La Jolla, CA — Model Medicines, a leading generative AI-driven biotechnology company, today announced its selection to present at the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority's (BARDA) Enabling Technologies Showcase at the Rapid Response Partnership Vehicle (RRPV) General Meeting. This prestigious opportunity underscores Model Medicines' position at the forefront of developing transformative medical countermeasures to address urgent national security and public health threats. The presentation will focus on the Model Medicines’ GALILEO™ platform, an end-to-end, generative AI drug discovery platform designed to accelerate the development of novel medical countermeasures.
“BARDA’s mission demands medical countermeasures faster than traditional drug development can deliver. With GALILEO™, we’ve built a platform that turns emerging threat signals into decision-ready drug candidates in weeks, not years,” said Sean M. Russell, COO of Model Medicines. “Our approach has already delivered validated molecules like MDL-001, which has demonstrated in vivo proof of concept (PoC) efficacy against three viral families and in vitro efficacy against six families, positioning it as a potential countermeasure for future unknown threats.”
The presentation will emphasize how Model Medicines’ rapid discovery sprints, co-designed with key opinion leaders (KOLs), align with BARDA’s strategic priorities in Influenza & Emerging Infectious Diseases, CBRN antivirals, and DRIVe enabling technologies. By producing ranked shortlists, assay plans, and validated molecules within six to eight weeks, Model Medicines delivers on BARDA’s call for speed, portability, and scalability. Model Medicines was recently named to the Fierce 15 list of most innovative healthcare companies and selected for the 2025 BARDA VANGUARD Cohort, placing it among the nation’s most strategically important biotech companies.
The BARDA RRPV meeting brings together leaders shaping U.S. preparedness and response capabilities. Notable participants include Gary Disbrow, Ph.D., Director of BARDA, who will provide a BARDA welcome; Robert Johnson, Ph.D., BARDA’s Medical Countermeasures Programs Director, who will outline the evolving role of the RRPV Consortium; and Chris Houchens, Ph.D., Director of the CBRN Countermeasures Division. Their leadership in national health security reinforces the importance of enabling technologies like GALILEO™ and therapeutic innovations such as MDL-001.
“Being selected to present at BARDA’s Enabling Technologies Showcase highlights the national importance of our work,” said Dr. Daniel Haders, CEO of Model Medicines. “With GALILEO™, we are not just discovering drugs, we are redefining what is possible in pandemic preparedness. MDL-001 represents a breakthrough in virology that could give the U.S. and its allies the ability to respond rapidly and decisively to future outbreaks.”
GALILEO™ integrates adaptive molecular embeddings, multimodal modeling, and generative chemistry to uncover new druggable targets and optimize chemical entities with unprecedented speed. The platform has achieved historic benchmarks in AI drug discovery across deep chemical space exploration, drug pipeline depth, model performance, hit rate, and chemical novelty. The GALILEO™ platform is believed to be the first AI drug discovery model to cross from the billions of molecules screened into the trillions, with 52 trillion NCEs generated in one study. In that same paper, Model Medicines demonstrates what is also believed to be the industry’s first perfect one-shot hit rate, with 12 NCEs synthesized, 12 NCEs screened, and 12 NCEs found to be active. To date, the company has discovered more than 190 compounds, with a validated pipeline of 67 assets across 12 therapeutic targets, in oncology and virology. The platform has also developed in-silico models that derisk the path from program concept and initiation, to clinical translation, and marketing approval. One such module is AmesNet, a best-in-class predictive mutagenicity screening model that derisks the path to clinical translation by eliminating potential therapuetics with problematic safety and toxicity concerns before they are ever synthesized.
Model Medicines’ presentation will highlight its virology program, including MDL-001, the company’s first-in-class, orally available, broad-spectrum antiviral. MDL-001 targets a highly conserved allosteric site of viral RNA-dependent RNA polymerases (RdRp), discovered by the GALILEO™ platform. MDL-001 has demonstrated robust in vitro and in vivo activity across multiple viral families with pandemic potential, including coronavirus, norovirus, influenza, and hepatitis C. The drug has demonstrated symptomatic and viral load reductions equaling or surpassing those of Velkury® (remdesivir) and Paxlovid(nirmatrelvir/ritonavir) in preclinical models, while maintaining an exceptional safety and pharmacokinetic profile in an orally administered therapeutic.
About Model Medicines
Model Medicines is an AI-native biotechnology company
developing life-saving therapeutics from first principles. Its proprietary
GALILEO™ platform integrates generative chemistry, multimodal modeling, and
novel target discovery to create best-in-class therapeutics across infectious
diseases, oncology, inflammation, and rare conditions. With a focus on highly
conserved, disease-driving targets, the company has generated 192 compounds and
advanced 67 into disease models, supported by collaborations with premier
academic and government partners.
For more information, please visit www.modelmedicines.com or contact media@modelmedicines.com.