Aizen Therapeutics has signed a multi-program partnership with a publicly traded San Diego biotech company to develop oral peptide drugs using artificial intelligence.
The San Diego-based AI firm announced the deal on 15 August 2026. It will receive several million dollars upfront and could earn up to $100 million in milestone payments for each drug target selected.
The collaboration focuses on one of the biggest obstacles in peptide medicine: making these drugs work when taken by mouth instead of by injection. Most current peptide treatments break down in the digestive system and are poorly absorbed, so patients usually need injections.
Aizen will use its DaX AI platform to design new peptides. The system explores chemical building blocks beyond the natural amino acids and aims to create molecules that remain stable in the gut and can be absorbed like ordinary tablets. The platform was developed with technology from Caltech and has been trained on millions of molecular and receptor data points.
Ajay Kshatriya, chief executive and co-founder of Aizen, said oral biologics open a new path in drug development. The company wants to design peptides for known targets in immunology and neurology that could offer better results, lower toxicity, and the convenience of a pill.
David Van Valen, a Caltech professor and scientific founder of Aizen, noted that designing completely new peptides remains difficult because of limited data and chemical complexity. The partnership will seek early evidence that the AI-designed molecules work as intended.
Aizen is also developing its own pipeline of oral peptide drugs that act either in the gut or throughout the body. Successful oral versions of peptide therapies could make treatments easier for patients and widen access in several disease areas.
The partner company was not named in the announcement.