Chai Discovery has entered a collaboration with Bristol Myers Squibb to support the discovery of therapeutic antibody candidates using artificial intelligence.
Under the agreement, Bristol Myers Squibb will use Chai Discovery’s artificial intelligence models and platform capabilities to identify antibody candidates across its portfolio. The work will incorporate Chai’s molecular folding and design models and support Bristol Myers Squibb’s efforts to build an AI-powered, continuously learning drug-discovery system.
Financial terms, research targets, development timelines and rights to any resulting programs were not disclosed.
Chai Discovery develops computer-aided molecular design technologies intended to predict and reprogram molecular interactions. The company said its models help scientists create new biomolecules with specified properties, using defined design criteria to generate molecules and potentially shorten early discovery cycles.
The collaboration will apply the company’s technology across diverse drug targets, according to Chai Discovery Chief Executive and co-founder Joshua Meier.
“By combining Chai’s advanced AI models with Bristol Myers Squibb’s deep therapeutic expertise, we hope to rapidly accelerate the timeline from concept to viable therapeutic candidates,” Meier said.
Antibodies are proteins that can be engineered to recognize and bind specific molecular targets. The companies’ collaboration will focus on applying AI-driven molecular folding and design capabilities to therapeutic antibody discovery, a process traditionally involving iterative laboratory screening and optimization.
Chai said its platform is designed to reason about biological structure and function, generate molecular designs from scratch and help pharmaceutical teams pursue targets that have historically been difficult to address using conventional discovery methods.
Bristol Myers Squibb is the latest biopharmaceutical company to partner with Chai Discovery. The San Francisco-based company has also announced antibody-discovery collaborations with argenx and Novartis.
Chai Discovery was founded in 2024 by Meier, Jack Dent, Matthew McPartlon and Jacques Boitreaud. The company said its team has experience spanning OpenAI, Meta FAIR, Stripe, molecular design and academic research.