Funnel Biosciences Secures Up to $2.16B Deal with Third Rock Ventures for AI-Driven Antibody Discovery

November 6,Fangnuo Bioscience（Funnel Biosciences）Announces partnership with Third Rock Ventures（TRV）Achieve strategic research collaboration, leveraging Fangnuo's exclusiveEpitope-Guided AI Antibody Discovery Platform, collaborating on the development of innovative biologics targeting multiple therapeutic targets.

The collaboration will focus on targets designated by TRV. Under the terms of the agreement, Fangnuo will receive platform access fees and will be eligible to obtainPotential payments totaling up to approximately US$2.16 billion。

Source of screenshot: Corporate official WeChat account

Fangnuo Biotech, established in February 2026, is an AI-driven biopharmaceutical R&D company. It focuses on target biology and mechanism-of-action-oriented molecular design, integrating its proprietary AI design platform with experimental validation. Through independent pipeline development and external R&D collaborations, it advancesInnovative Biologics with Differentiation PotentialFindings.

Traditional antibody discovery typically relies on techniques such as animal immunization and phage display, requiring multiple rounds of screening and optimization. For structurally complex targets like multi-pass transmembrane proteins, maintaining the native conformation of the target and obtaining antibodies that bind to specific functional epitopes remain significant challenges in research and development.

Fangnuo has developed an algorithmic system covering antibody generation and engineering optimization. Starting from preselected target epitopes, the platform utilizes AI to generate candidate antibodies and optimizes binding interfaces using physical energy functions, thereby linking molecular design with the intended mechanism of action.

Fang Nuo stated that its platform can obtain antibodies with picomolar affinity, excellent druggability, and low immunogenicity under zero-shot conditions without the need for in vitro affinity maturation, with sequence hit rates atAt the Forefront of Its Class。

Insight Databaseshows,In recent years, Chinese enterprises have entered into multiple overseas collaborations centered on AI-driven drug discovery platforms and related R&D projects, with the potential total value of some transactions exceeding US$1 billion, including but not limited to:

• In 2022, Insilico Medicine andSanofiAchieved a multi-year, multi-target strategic research collaboration, leveraging an AI platform to advance new drug discovery, with a potential collaboration value of up to approximately$1.2 billion。

• In 2026, Insilico Medicine andEli LillyReached a drug discovery and development collaboration, with an upfront payment of $115 million and a potential total transaction value including development, regulatory, and commercialization milestone payments of approximately$2.75 billion。

• In 2026, CSPC andAstraZenecaCollaboration on long-acting weight management drugs, involving eight projects, andAI-Driven Peptide Drug Discovery Platform and Long-Acting Delivery Technology. The upfront payment for this transaction is $1.2 billion, with potential milestone payments up to$17.3 billion。