9 June, 2026 15:16:41 IST 
Chai Discovery, a US-based company engineering AI models to discover new molecules, has signed a licensing agreement with Pfizer under which the US pharma giant will deploy Chai’s AI platform within its drug discovery operations. The deal gives Pfizer early access to Chai’s previously undisclosed Chai-3 model, as well as a custom model trained on Pfizer’s proprietary data and tailored to its workflows.
Chai Discovery builds generative AI software that can predict and reprogram the interactions between molecules, enabling scientists to design biomolecules with specific functional properties. For decades, drug discovery has been constrained by painstaking experimental cycles with uncertain outcomes. As per Chai, its AI models can accelerate the early phases of development by designing new biomolecules from scratch, tackling hard targets, and compressing discovery loops from months or years into short sprints.
Chai-3 is focused on AI-driven antibody design and doubles the success rate of its predecessor in producing antibodies that meet therapeutic standards. The model addresses therapeutic binding, multi-specifics, hard-to-drug targets, and improved generalisation. It builds on Chai-2, released in 2025, which the company describes as the first zero-shot antibody design platform to achieve double-digit experimental hit rates — a 100-fold improvement over earlier computational approaches — compressing discovery timelines from months to weeks.
Mr. Joshua Meier, co-founder of Chai Discovery, said the agreement would combine Chai’s AI platform with Pfizer’s scientific depth and data capabilities to expand what is possible in biologics discovery, particularly for targets that have proved difficult to address through conventional methods.
Chai Discovery was founded in 2024 and is backed by investors including Oak HC/FT, General Catalyst, OpenAI, Thrive Capital, Menlo Ventures, and Dimension.
