All Drug Discovery articles
-
ArticleDrug discovery in Q3 2026 – what changed and why it matters
Agentic AI, ultralarge virtual screening, molecular glues and human-relevant models were among the key developments in early drug discovery during Q3 2026. Drug Target Review examines what changed, why it matters and what to watch heading into Q4.
-
NewsAI consortium targets antibody developability prediction with 10,000-sequence dataset
A new industry consortium led by Ginkgo Datapoints and Apheris is assembling a 10,000-antibody dataset to train AI models that can flag developability problems earlier in the drug discovery pipeline.
-
ArticleInduced proximity drugs – why complex formation is not enough
A drug can form exactly the complex it was designed to make and still fail to work. Two recently approved induced proximity drugs show why what happens after complex formation – not formation alone – can decide the outcome.
-
NewsNew P. vivax vulnerability could prevent liver-stage malaria infection
A newly identified epitope on the circumsporozoite protein of Plasmodium vivax could offer a route to vaccines that prevent liver-stage infection and curb the relapse-driven transmission cycle.
-
NewsMenin inhibitor KO-7246 shows β-cell regeneration in preclinical diabetes models
New preclinical data suggests that menin inhibitor KO-7246 can regenerate functional pancreatic β-cells and sustain improvements in blood glucose control across both Type 1 and Type 2 diabetes models.
-
NewsBrain circuit linking cold exposure to metabolism identified in hypothalamus
Researchers at USF Health have identified a previously unknown brain circuit in the hypothalamus that coordinates eating behaviour, heat production and energy expenditure in response to cold, with implications for obesity and metabolic disease drug discovery.
-
NewsMathematical model probes metals’ role in Alzheimer’s plaque formation
A mathematical framework simulates how metals such as copper and zinc interact with amyloid-beta, offering a new computational tool to explore plaque formation and potential therapeutic interventions in Alzheimer’s disease.
-
ArticleAI agents vs scientists: what should we automate in drug discovery?
AI agents can search, analyse and plan across drug discovery workflows, but where should scientists hand over control? We examine what to automate, what to check and where human judgement matters most.
-
ArticleHow disease exposes hidden epitopes that AI models may miss
A protein can look very different in disease without a single change to its sequence. Measuring these structural changes could reveal drug targets invisible to genomic and expression data alone.
-
NewsOestrogen receptor alpha identified as right ventricle protector in pulmonary hypertension
Scientists at National Jewish Health have identified oestrogen receptor alpha as a potential therapeutic target for preserving right ventricular function in pulmonary hypertension.
-
NewsKidney organoids reveal inflammation drives diabetic kidney disease
University of Washington researchers have used stem cell-derived kidney organoids to uncover inflammatory pathways that drive diabetic kidney disease.
-
ArticleHow protective gene variants are revealing new drug targets
Finding the right drug target remains one of discovery’s biggest challenges. Human genetics is helping researchers strengthen the evidence before committing years of research and investment.
-
NewsWhat SIRPα reveals about how breast cancer takes hold in the brain
Scientists at Wake Forest University School of Medicine have uncovered a previously unrecognised cancer-intrinsic role for SIRPα in triple-negative breast cancer, linking the cell-surface protein to mitochondrial fission, tumour-cell migration and suppression of the brain’s immune defences.
-
ArticleWhy AI struggles with new drug targets – and how physics could help
Virtual screening can assess billions of compounds, but performance can fall on unfamiliar targets. Combining AI with molecular physics could help make predictions more reliable.
-
NewsInsilico Medicine launches open-source AI longevity research toolkit
Insilico Medicine has published a Cell cover study introducing LongevityBench, a suite of specialised AI models and an autonomous agentic discovery platform.
-
NewsBig Picture Bio raises £2.2m to develop AI cancer combination therapies
UK-based cancer drug discovery company Big Picture Bio has closed £2.2 million in funding to advance AI-designed combination therapies into laboratory validation, using a generative world model to map complex tumour biology across disease sites and patient subgroups.
-
NewsLiver cancer organoids used to screen 1,600 potential treatments
Researchers at the University of Basel have screened more than 1,600 compounds using a biobank of 35 hepatocellular carcinoma organoids, identifying drug combinations that show selective anti-tumour activity across biologically diverse liver cancers.
-
ArticleTurning CNS biomarkers into better drug development decisions
Why do promising CNS therapies struggle to translate into patients? Three experts explore how biomarkers can track therapeutic effects, improve patient selection and guide development decisions.
-
NewsSolute carrier transporters open new frontier in neurological drug discovery
A comprehensive review of solute carrier transporters argues that the 464-strong SLC protein family represents a largely unexplored opportunity for developing treatments across a range of neurological and psychiatric conditions, from epilepsy and autism to Alzheimer’s disease.
-
ArticleFast-tracking AI-designed binders with cell-free expression and SPR
AI can rapidly generate new protein binders, but wet-lab validation remains a major bottleneck. Combining cell-free protein synthesis with surface plasmon resonance (SPR) enables AI-designed antibody binders to be screened directly from crude extracts, bypassing lengthy cell culture and purification steps.