Insilico AI Designs BTK PROTAC Candidates for Blood Cancers
TL;DR
- Insilico says its AI pipeline selects drug candidates in 12 to 18 months, compared to 2.5 to 4 years with traditional methods.
- The PROTAC molecules target Bruton's tyrosine kinase and destroy it, rather than temporarily binding it like conventional inhibitors.
- The work is published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry and follows brain-cancer and chronic-pain candidates from the same Abu Dhabi lab in 2026.
Researchers at Insilico Medicine's Abu Dhabi operation have used two in-house AI platforms to design a class of molecules called PROTACs that destroy Bruton's tyrosine kinase, a protein that helps certain leukaemias and lymphomas proliferate and spread. The work appears in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry.
Unlike conventional BTK drugs, which temporarily bind the target, the PROTACs drag it to the cell's disposal system and eliminate it entirely. PandaOmics identifies disease-related target proteins; Chemistry42 designs molecules to attach to them. "AI can accelerate identification of disease-related target proteins," Ahmad Alghaith, an organic chemist at Insilico Medicine, told The National, adding that the approach removes the need for manual molecular design.
Insilico puts drug selection at 12 to 18 months with the AI pipeline, versus 2.5 to 4 years using traditional methods; the comparison is the company's, not an independent benchmark. The Abu Dhabi lab previously announced a potential brain cancer drug in April 2026 and a non-opioid chronic pain candidate in July 2026, part of a run of 61 healthcare AI stories we have tracked over the last 90 days in our healthcare coverage.
Human trials may take several years, pending preclinical work and regulatory approval.
Originally reported by thenationalnews.com
Read the original article →Original headline: Insilico Medicine's AI Platforms Design PROTAC Blood-Cancer Drug Candidates in 12-18 Months