Pharma BD Deal Intelligence
Platform access to AI antibody design; discovery-stage optionality
Full analysis, sources & comparables →Chai Discovery, an AI drug-design company, entered a collaboration with Novartis to apply its latest AI models — including Chai-3 — to therapeutic antibody discovery across multiple biological targets and programs. The agreement follows more than a year of technical engagement in which Novartis had early access to Chai's next-generation protein-folding model. Chai-3 materially improves target success rates and binding affinity versus its predecessor. Financial terms and specific disease areas were not disclosed. The pact adds Novartis to Chai's pharma customer base alongside Pfizer and Eli Lilly.
Novartis gains access to Chai Discovery's latest generative-AI models, including Chai-3, to identify and engineer therapeutic antibodies across multiple undisclosed biological targets and programs. Chai-3 is positioned as a step-change over Chai-2, reportedly doubling success rates for molecular-interaction targets (~35-40% hit rates) and improving binding affinity and multispecific antibody engineering. Specific targets, indications and program count were not disclosed.
AI-native biologics-design peers include Generate:Biomedicines, Isomorphic Labs, and Absci. Chai Discovery has parallel pharma alliances with Eli Lilly (Jan 2026), Pfizer (Jun 2026) and argenx, positioning Chai-3 as a widely-partnered de novo antibody-design platform. Novartis's own biologics discovery organization is the internal comparator.
Novartis gains access to Chai Discovery's Chai-3 generative-AI models to discover and engineer therapeutic antibodies across multiple programs; financial terms undisclosed.
Extends a year-plus technical engagement; Novartis becomes Chai's third top-tier pharma partner (after Lilly and Pfizer). Value is optionality on discovery-stage output, not a de-risked asset.
| Deal | Year | Value | Outcome |
|---|---|---|---|
| Novartis AG / Chai Discovery, Inc. (this deal) | 2026 | — | 59 |
| Novartis AG / Advanced Accelerator Applications S.A. | 2017 | $3.9B | 98 |
| Novartis AG / Endocyte, Inc. | 2018 | $2.1B | 96 |
| Novartis AG / Lek Pharmaceuticals d.d. | 2002 | $876M | 88 |
| Novartis AG / GlaxoSmithKline plc | 2014 | $16.0B | 81 |
| Novartis AG / PTC Therapeutics Inc. | 2024 | $2.9B | 80 |
| Novartis AG / Chinook Therapeutics Inc. | 2023 | $3.5B | 78 |
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More: 2026 deals · Novartis AG deals · Multiple (undisclosed) deals