At a Glance
- Iambic and Takeda enter a multi-year AI-driven drug discovery collaboration focused on small-molecule programs
- Initial focus areas include Oncology and Gastrointestinal and Inflammation indications
- Takeda gains access to Iambic’s AI platform, including the NeuralPLexer protein–ligand prediction model
- Deal includes upfront and research payments, milestones exceeding $1.7 billion, plus royalties
Written By: Pharmacally Medical News Desk
Iambic, a clinical-stage life science and technology company focused on AI-driven drug discovery, has entered into a multi-year technology and discovery collaboration with Takeda to advance a select group of high-priority small-molecule programs.
The collaboration will initially focus on programs within Takeda’s Oncology and Gastrointestinal and Inflammation therapeutic areas. Under the agreement, Takeda will gain access to Iambic’s proprietary AI discovery platform, including NeuralPLexer, the company’s protein–ligand structure prediction model.
The partnership is designed to accelerate early drug discovery by applying Iambic’s AI models alongside its fully integrated, high-throughput automated wet-lab infrastructure. Together, these capabilities support rapid design–make–test–analyze cycles aimed at improving candidate quality and shortening timelines from project initiation to IND-enabling stages.
Tom Miller, PhD, Co-Founder and Chief Executive Officer of Iambic, said the collaboration reflects growing industry confidence in the company’s technology and its ability to operate at scale across multiple discovery programs.
Chris Arendt, PhD, Chief Scientific Officer and Head of Research at Takeda, noted that the collaboration aligns with Takeda’s strategy to accelerate the development of new medicines by leveraging advances in artificial intelligence, with the potential to reduce risk in candidate selection and improve development success rates.
Financial Terms
Under the agreement, Iambic will receive upfront payments, research funding, and technology access fees. The company is also eligible for success-based milestone payments that could exceed $1.7 billion, in addition to tiered royalties on net sales of any products arising from the collaboration.
Iambic’s AI-Driven Discovery Platform
Iambic’s discovery platform integrates advanced AI models, including Enchant, a multimodal transformer designed to predict preclinical and clinical endpoints, and NeuralPLexer, a structure prediction system for proteins and protein–ligand complexes. The platform incorporates physics-based principles to improve data efficiency and expand exploration of chemical space.
By combining AI-generated molecular designs with automated synthesis and experimental testing, Iambic aims to identify differentiated drug candidates with optimized therapeutic profiles at a weekly iteration pace.
About Iambic
Founded in 2020 and headquartered in San Diego, Iambic is a clinical-stage company developing novel medicines using an AI-driven discovery and development platform. The company is advancing multiple best-in-class and first-in-class clinical programs, both independently and through strategic partnerships, targeting areas of high unmet medical need.
Reference
Iambic Announces Collaboration with Takeda to Advance AI-Driven Design of Small Molecules, 09 February 2026, https://www.iambic.ai/post/iambic-announces-collaboration-with-takeda