Pledge Therapeutics

Our #PledgeAi team, represented by Nick Hamilton and Asanga Bandara, just presented our latest work at the AACR Journals Special Conference on AI in Cancer Research in #Montréal, bringing deep, experimentally rooted, structure-based drug design data we routinely generate into a field full of complexity, and, at times, more modeling than molecular reality. It’s hard not to reflect on how much AI is being asked to do in cancer research today: from interpreting spatial & -omics data to predicting treatment response, guiding drug combinations, stratifying patients, identifying new drug targets, and discovering new drugs. There’s promise here but also a lot of noise. And this classical AI challenge is compounded further in oncology research. The landmark 2019 study by Lin et al., published in Nature, provided a sobering reminder that over two-thirds (>66%) of approved #cancer drugs fail to act through their intended molecular targets, underscoring the fragility of our assumed “ground truths”. Assays often mislead, biological redundancy can obscure, and confound underlying principles. #Deeplearning models trained only on curated literature or retrospective screens tend to reinforce those blind spots unless they’re actively challenged with new, noisy, real-world data. #AI can be powerful, not as a shortcut to bypass experimentation, but to develop and test ideas faster, expose where our assumptions break, and focus experiments where they matter most. At Pledge Therapeutics, AI is one of many verticals we deploy. #PicoGen, our generative design platform, builds on years of experimental work to tackle a core problem in AI-driven drug design i.e., data scarcity. It unlocks a vast “undrugged” therapeutic space, by enabling de novo hit-generation against targets that currently have no known drug molecules. No where is this need more apparent than in cancer, where most disease drivers remain undrugged and unevaluated. PicoGen helps us generate hits for targets that currently have no Medicinal Chemistry starting points at all. More to come when we share our full AACR abstract. For now, here’s a glimpse of the work and the people behind it. #AACR #DrugDiscovery #CancerResearch #StructureBasedDesign #GenerativeAI #Biotech #AACRai25 #undruggable #oncology

We are excited to welcome Dr. Joshua Heiber Ph.D., to the Pledge Therapeutics team. As Director of our #ImmuneOncology programs, Josh brings a strong track record in translational biology and drug development, and will help lead our efforts to unlock the next generation of #immunotherapies. #ImmunoOncology #DrugDiscovery #Biotech #TeamGrowth  

Our team had an incredible week at NVIDIA's #GTC25 conference in San Jose, surrounded by some of the brightest minds pushing the frontiers of AI. From deep conversations on generative models and protein design, to hearing Jensen Huang and other innovators speak live about the future of accelerated computing—it’s clear we’re entering a new era of possibility. As a drug design and discovery company firmly rooted in experimental science, we could not be more excited about the future of biotech and medicine as we begin to train powerful AI models. We’ve been quietly working on revolutionary models built on one of the largest, curated, proprietary structural data sets ever assembled, and the preliminary results are astounding. The implications are vast. We recently launched Pledge-AI (https://xmrrwallet.com/cmx.ppledge-tx.ai/) to realize and push the limits of what is possible when you merge deep human expertise with deep machine learning. We’re building at the edge of that convergence where: ·        AI meets structure-based drug design exposing new drug-targeting opportunities ·        GPU-powered proprietary models enable access to new chemical matter ·        Hitting protein targets and interfaces that were once considered undruggable Big thanks to Drs. Asanga Bandara and Nick Hamilton for representing Pledge at the GTC 2025 —and to the NVIDIA team for making this such an inspiring experience. A shout out to the entire Pledge Therapeutics discovery team embedded within our AI group for all their innovative work. We're excited for what’s ahead in terms of collaborations and growth. #GTC #NVIDIA #AI #DrugDiscovery #PledgeTherapeutics #GPUpowered #AcceleratedComputing #Biotech #AIforDrugDiscovery #LifeSciences #StructuralBiology

Today, we announced the close of an oversubscribed $5.2M financing round, bringing Orthogon Therapeutics' total funding to over $25M. Backed by a diversified investor base and a pipeline of drugs with unique mechanisms of action, Orthogon Therapeutics is addressing this area of urgent unmet medical need. With this renewed support, we are advancing our mission to develop the world’s first oral antiviral treatments for BK virus. Congratulations to our incredible team for their focus, and determination to transform treatment possibilities for BK virus infections! Orthogon Therapeutics, LLC is an independent, privately held R&D company affiliated with the Pledge Therapeutics discovery platform. More info at www.pledge-tx.com.

Join Our Team! We’re looking for a Principal Scientist to lead protein and antibody engineering in our Rapid Response Group (RRG) within the Discovery Division. 🔬 The RRG is a hands-on, mission-driven team focused on high-impact projects, delivering tools, techniques, and data that drive our therapeutic programs forward. 💡 If you're passionate about advancing science in a dynamic, collaborative environment, this could be the perfect opportunity! Apply today and be part of our transformative team Pledge Therapeutics! #Biotech #LifeSciences #Hiring #JobOpportunity #STEMCareers #JoinOurTeam

So far, it’s been a tremendous year at Pledge Therapeutics! We have expanded both our US and EU teams in the last 6 months. We're excited to welcome: US team (Canton, MA): Nagraj Mani, Senior Director, Virology Erin Deans, Scientist, Virology Consuelo Beatriz Correa Sierra, Senior Research Associate, Virology Rebecca Lashin (Riding), Senior Scientist, Immuno-Oncology Xue Yao, Scientist, Immuno-Oncology Krishna Kandala, Senior Associate, Business Development, Strategy & Operations Nick Hamilton, Postdoctoral Associate, Computational Chemist EU team (Leuven, BE): Senne Sienaert, Research Associate, Structural Biology As we grow our R&D, Computational Chemistry, and Business Development teams, we've opened some key positions to support our efforts at this exciting time in our growth journey. Please reach out to Maria Martin to inquire about these new positions or to join our talent network for future opportunities! #Biotech, #Startup # #Resarch #nowhiring #joinourteam www.pledge-tx.com