XtalPi Invests in PhoreMost's $46M Series B Financing to Build an Integrated AI-Powered Drug Discovery Pipeline from Target Identification to Preclinical Development

On March 24, XtalPi, an AI-driven drug R&D company leveraging digitalization and intelligence to advance drug innovation, announced its participation in the investment round of PhoreMost, a UK-based biopharmaceutical company dedicated to “challenging undruggable targets.” The $46 million Series B financing round was led by BGF, with follow-on investments from XtalPi and other existing and new investors.Dr. Jiang Yide, Chief Strategy Officer of XtalPi, will join the Board of Directors of PhoreMost.

The new round of financing will be used to advance PhoreMost’s proprietary and partnered drug pipelines in the fields of cancer and aging-related diseases, and to develop new therapies in the field of targeted protein degradation leveraging its protein phenotypic screening platform. Among these, a novel allosteric PLK1 inhibitor pipeline for brain cancer is expected to enter clinical studies in 2022.

XtalPi’s participation in PhoreMost’s Series B financing stems from the two companies’ existing successful collaboration and deep mutual understanding. In 2020, XtalPi and PhoreMost jointly initiated a new drug discovery project, leveraging XtalPi’s artificial intelligence R&D platform to tackle “undruggable” oncology targets selected by PhoreMost. Through this collaboration, XtalPi utilized its ID4 (Intelligent Digital Drug Discovery and Development) smart drug R&D platform to generate an ultra-large, drug-like chemical space tailored to the new targets chosen by PhoreMost. By integrating machine learning with quantum physics-based algorithms for key property assessment and screening, the partnership enabled the rapid development of high-quality candidate compounds for various cancers. This strategic investment by XtalPi in PhoreMost will further deepen their collaboration, applying the powerful combined R&D model of their two platforms to additional disease areas.

PhoreMost’s SITESEEKER® platform enables novel target discovery for any disease, identifying druggable sites with therapeutic potential, and is particularly effective for targets deemed “undruggable” due to the absence of well-defined active pockets. This technology offers highly complementary advantages to XtalPi’s ID4 intelligent drug R&D platform. By integrating PhoreMost’s target discovery capabilities with XtalPi’s established drug molecule discovery algorithms and efficient molecular synthesis experimental capabilities, a comprehensive R&D closed loop—from target discovery to preclinical development—is formed. This integration will further unlock the innovative capacity of XtalPi’s ID4 platform, expand the portfolio of drug candidates advanced in parallel, and significantly enhance XtalPi’s ability to independently discover new drugs and systematically create high-value early-stage drug assets in key therapeutic areas.

Over the past six months, XtalPi has entered into new drug discovery collaborations with multiple pharmaceutical and biotechnology companies, including Huadong Medicine, 3SBio, Singlera Genomics, and Xige Life Sciences. Leveraging AI algorithms, XtalPi is simultaneously driving multiple anticancer drug development projects, with several novel drugs accelerating into clinical trials. To date, XtalPi’s ID4 platform has accelerated the discovery and development of more than 100 pipeline drugs. Based on data from existing collaborations, the ID4 platform can identify compounds with higher potency against difficult-to-drug targets more rapidly than traditional methods, significantly expediting the progression of new drug projects into clinical stages, while providing scalable support for new drug R&D initiatives.

Wen Shuhao, Chairman of XtalPi“He stated, ‘We have observed clear collaborative advantages in our drug discovery projects with PhoreMost. The deep integration of two platform companies will undoubtedly lead to a more substantial pipeline expansion. We look forward to working with PhoreMost to systematically uncover novel drug opportunities that are inaccessible through traditional R&D approaches, further strengthening XtalPi’s translational bridge for novel and undruggable targets, and accelerating the expansion of innovative drug collaborations with pharmaceutical companies both in China and globally.’”

Dr. Jiang Yide, Chief Strategy Officer of XtalPi and Newly Appointed Board Member of PhoreMost“XtalPi remains committed to leveraging innovative technologies to optimize critical steps in R&D and building comprehensive drug discovery and development capabilities. As a partner and investor in PhoreMost’s mission to ‘Drug the Undruggable,’ we are highly optimistic about its platform’s ability to tackle traditionally challenging targets. We look forward to deep collaboration between the two companies, which holds the promise of establishing a high-quality pipeline and rapidly delivering novel therapies to key disease areas with unmet medical needs, thereby tangibly improving patients’ lives.”

XtalPi is a drug R&D technology company driven by computational innovation. Leveraging cutting-edge technologies in computational physics, quantum chemistry, artificial intelligence, and cloud computing, we provide intelligent drug discovery and development services to innovative pharmaceutical companies worldwide. We aim to bring more high-quality medicines to patients by enhancing the efficiency and success rate of critical stages in drug development while reducing R&D costs.

XtalPi was founded on the campus of the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT), with its core team composed of distinguished talents from academia, the IT and internet sectors, and the pharmaceutical industry. Headquartered in Shenzhen, the company has established branches in Beijing, Boston, and Shanghai. Since its inception, XtalPi has successfully provided drug R&D services to more than 70 pioneering pharmaceutical companies across the United States, Europe, China, and Japan.