California-based firms BioAge Labs (Nasdaq: BIOA) and Deep Origin have entered an AI-driven multi-target drug discovery collaboration, under which Deep Origin is eligible to receive undisclosed success-based milestone payments. Deep Origin has reportedly already delivered validated small-molecule hits against the first target in less than three months.
Deep Origin applies its virtual screening platform — built on proprietary DODock and DOScore engines that predict small-molecule binding orientation and affinity at functionally active protein sites — to BioAge-selected targets, filtering candidate hits against BioAge's medicinal chemistry criteria before any compound reaches the bench. The platform uses hybrid AI and physics-based models; beyond initial screening, the agreement also gives BioAge access to Deep Origin's free energy perturbation calculations and virtual human toxicology avatars — interconnected organ models that simulate physical and chemical events inside the body to predict drug safety.
BioAge verifies the functional activity of hits in its own laboratory and leads hit-to-lead optimization, development candidate selection, and clinical development. Multiple structurally distinct hits against the first unnamed target have been validated in BioAge's wet lab, and BioAge is advancing that target into hit-to-lead optimization; work to validate hits against additional defined targets is ongoing.