Most marketed antibodies work as antagonists, simply shutting off a receptor, even though many immune, metabolic, and cancer pathways require more nuanced control. Metaphore Biotechnologies' function‑first platform combines live-cell experiments with machine learning to read how receptors and binding partners behave in living systems, distill those complex dynamics into the key functional features, and then design functional antibodies that agonize, bias, or multi-target pathways from the outset. Metaphore CEO Angela Hwang discusses how the company is using this approach to open up difficult or previously undruggable targets, generate medicines with better profiles, and give drug developers greater control over complex signaling than traditional drug development approaches allow.

Cells continuously sense their environment and in response to stressors, adapt, recover, or die. Soley Therapeutics uses its AI platform to capture thousands of intracellular features and map how cells sense, interpret, and respond to stress. The approach gives Soley the ability to pursue previously undruggable targets. It has generated more than 10 novel oncology programs in less than two years and advanced two first‑in‑class experimental small molecule therapies toward the clinic. Yerem Yeghiazarians, co-founder and CEO of Soley, discusses the science behind the company’s first-in-class lead candidate, the applicability of Soley’s platform to a broad set of diseases, and the capital efficiency of the company’s approach to drug development.

Promising drugs can become abandoned or underused because of tolerability issues, poor drug‑like properties, or other fixable limitations, even when there is already compelling human evidence that they work. PureTech Health starts with an unmet need and human pharmacology, then systematically dissects and solves the specific liabilities of discontinued drugs to unlock breakthroughs in an approach that has proved to be a highly efficient means of value creation. Eric Elenko, president and co‑founder of PureTech, discusses the company’s disciplined approach to drug innovation around rescuing promising but discontinued therapeutics, its hub‑and‑spoke structure, and how this model can neutralize emotional bias, enforce clear success criteria, and turn partially derisked assets into commercial successes.