San Francisco-based Chai Discovery and GSK have entered a collaboration giving GSK access to Chai's protein folding and design models for drug discovery across its pipeline, following a technology evaluation in which GSK conducted internal wet-lab testing of model-generated designs.
During the evaluation, Chai's models generated designs to GSK targets zero-shot, without target-specific training, GSK's internal wet-lab testing found binders to all tested targets. Chai's latest model, Chai-3, is designed to achieve high target success rates and binding affinities, including against challenging targets; an earlier model, Chai-2, demonstrated antibody design against six GPCRs, and preprint data linked a prior model to a 16% hit rate in fully de novo antibody design.
Chai's latest model, Chai-3, is designed to achieve high target success rates and binding affinities, including against challenging targets, although the companies did not specify which models were used in GSK's evaluation. Earlier research involving Chai-2 demonstrated a 16% hit rate in fully de novo antibody design across 52 targets, while subsequent studies showed successful binder generation against six G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs).
The agreement adds GSK to Chai's expanding pharmaceutical partner network, following collaborations with Bristol Myers Squibb, Eli Lilly, Novartis, and Pfizer in 2026. Chai also raised USD 400 million in a Series C round earlier this year.