The Pulse

Laboratoires Pierre Fabre and XtalPi Agree to Collaborate on AI-Driven Drug Discovery

Laboratoires Pierre Fabre and XtalPi will collaborate on the discovery of novel clinical candidates across a number of research programs in oncology, potentially dermatology, and rare diseases. XtalPi will use its integrated AI capabilities

AI.info Team · Written with AI · fact-checked · 2026-11-09

Who does what

XtalPi will use its integrated AI capabilities and robotics platform to de novo design and deliver novel small molecule therapeutics against undisclosed targets. Laboratoires Pierre Fabre will select and advance the most promising compounds and will be responsible for subsequent clinical and commercial development. The companies announced the agreement on Nov. 9, 2026.

Oncology, potentially dermatology, and rare diseases

The companies will collaborate across a number of research programs in oncology, potentially dermatology, and rare diseases. The companies said the collaboration reflects their shared interest in exploring challenging and historically hard-to-drug targets. That area is associated with significant unmet medical need and substantial opportunity in innovative drug discovery.

Laboratoires Pierre Fabre describes the collaboration as strategic

Laboratoires Pierre Fabre describes the collaboration as a strategic addition to its R&D roadmap that strengthens its drug-discovery capabilities. XtalPi says the deal advances its efforts to apply AI and robotics to de novo drug discovery.

Financial terms

The agreement includes an upfront payment, multiple milestone payments and downstream economic participation; specific financial terms were not disclosed.

Zheng and Hofmann describe the partnership

We are honored to enter into this collaboration with Laboratoires Pierre Fabre, a respected international pharmaceutical company. This partnership combines XtalPi's AI and robotics capabilities with Laboratoires Pierre Fabre's established therapeutic development expertise. We aim to advance promising preclinical candidates to benefit patients with unmet medical needs.

Raymond Zheng, Head of Integrated Drug Discovery at XtalPi

Partnering with XtalPi represents an important milestone for us. Leveraging the expertise of XtalPi on AI to accelerate the delivery of high-quality clinical candidates for multiple targets is a critical addition to our R&D Data and AI roadmap and to our discovery engine

Francesco Hofmann, Head of Pharma Research and Development at Laboratoires Pierre Fabre