Takeda Signs $1.7B AI-Enabled Small Molecule Discovery Deal with Iambic

Takeda has entered a multi-year agreement with Iambic Therapeutics to deploy Iambic’s AI-driven small molecule discovery platform across oncology, gastrointestinal, and inflammation programs. The deal includes access to Iambic’s software and molecular design tools, with financial terms reportedly exceeding $1.7 billion biobucks in potential milestones. This move aligns with Takeda’s stated broader strategy to prioritize artificial intelligence in R&D.

Iambic is a clinical-stage AI biotech that uses its own AI platform to develop new medicines, headquartered in San Diego and founded in 2020. The company recently raised over $100 million, has prior alliances with Revolution Medicines, Jazz Pharmaceuticals, and Lundbeck. Its internal pipeline includes IAM1363, an oral oncology candidate with promising early-phase data reported in 2025.

The collaboration with Takeda incorporates Iambic’s generative model NeuralPLexer, which predicts protein-ligand interactions, and supports an iterative design-make-test-analyze framework to accelerate development. Other models across Iambic’s AI suite include:

Enchant, a multimodal transformer designed to predict human pharmacokinetics early by combining limited clinical data with extensive lab data;
OrbNet, a graph neural network architecture for quantum-accurate protein–ligand binding predictions at speeds reportedly 1,000 times faster than traditional DFT methods;
Magnet, a generative design system built to navigate synthetically accessible chemical space in tandem with high-throughput chemistry execution.

While specific upfront figures weren’t disclosed, the structure reportedly involves research funding, platform access fees, and success-based payouts.

This is one of Takeda’s most extensive AI-based R&D partnerships to date, following its narrowed 2024 modality focus to small molecules, biologics, ADCs, and allogeneic cell therapies. It follows previous agreements including a $1.2 billion deal with antibody-design platform maker Nabla Bio and an up to $11.4 billion cancer drug rights acquisition from Innovent.

See also: Defining Modern AI Drug Discovery for 2025 and Beyond

Takeda’s deal with Iambic fits into a broader pattern of large pharmaceutical companies embedding AI across the R&D lifecycle. As detailed in our deep dive Inside Big Pharma's AI Playbook: From Molecule Discovery to Clinical Trials, firms are advancing AI across various fronts, from generative molecular design to trial optimization. It also reflects ongoing industry efforts to reposition pipelines ahead of looming patent cliffs—a trend we track in How 2026 Started: First-Weeks Readout on AI, Pharma, & Policy, which surveys early-year moves in AI platform deals, capital allocation, and policy responses across the US and EU.

Cover image: A frame from the NeuralPLexer generative diffusion process, as it creates the predicted protein-ligand complex structure. (Credit: Business Wire)

Topic: AI in Bio