Talus Bio Announces New Collaboration with PRISM BioLab to Discover Novel Modulators of Transcription Factor and Protein-Protein Interaction Targets

SEATTLE & TOKYO–(BUSINESS WIRE)–Talus Bioscience, Inc. (“Talus Bio”), an AI-enabled regulome therapeutics company, today announced a strategic collaboration with PRISM BioLab Co., Ltd. (“PRISM”) to accelerate the discovery and development of novel small-molecule modulators of transcription factor (TF) and protein-protein interaction (PPI) targets. The collaboration combines Talus Bio’s pioneering regulome profiling and AI-guided drug discovery platform with PRISM’s innovative chemistry.

“This collaboration gives us an unprecedented opportunity to pursue targets that have resisted conventional drug discovery,” said Alex Federation, PhD, CEO and Co-Founder of Talus Bio. “Integrating PRISM’s chemistry with Talus’ regulome profiling and AI models allows us to see, in real time, how compounds reshape transcriptional networks in human cells. It’s a step-change in our ability to drug the undruggable.”

Under the agreement, the companies will deploy PRISM’s proprietary small-molecule libraries in Talus Bio’s AI-guided regulome profiling screens to identify and optimize novel compounds against high-value TF and PPI targets. The collaboration aims to generate first-in-class chemical matter with direct functional effects on TF and PPI activity in live human cells. Talus Bio and PRISM will share the costs of discovery research and development and any profits generated from out-licensing and commercialization of discovered drug products.

“We are delighted to partner with Talus on this exciting project,” commented Dai Takehara, PRISM’s President and CEO. “We at PRISM have developed chemistries for PPI targets, but because of the complex nature of these targets, it is often challenging to properly model protein-protein interactions in a biochemical assay. Even when we are successful, we can interrogate only one target at a time, whereas Talus can profile hundreds to thousands of these targets in parallel and in their native environment. We believe that the combination of PRISM’s chemistry platform and Talus’s regulome profiling platform has the potential to discover a plethora of inhibitors against previously ‘undruggable’ TF and PPI targets and open a path for the development of novel therapeutics.”

This collaboration is a pivotal step in establishing a systematic, scalable strategy to address TF and PPI targets. Together, the companies are creating a unified platform capable of revealing and modulating regulatory mechanisms that have remained undruggable for decades. The approach opens the door to long-needed therapies for transcriptionally driven diseases that lie beyond the capabilities of traditional small-molecule approaches.

Talus Bio will be attending the 2026 J.P. Morgan Healthcare Conference in San Francisco, January 12–15. For information on partnership and co-development opportunities, contact the Talus Bio team here. Follow Talus Bioscience on LinkedIn for the latest news and updates.

About Talus Bioscience

Talus Bio is making the regulome accessible to drug discovery. Founded in 2020, the Seattle-based company’s platform generates global profiles of the regulome, including transcription factors and other DNA regulators directly in native human cells. These quantitative maps of regulome activity unlock new avenues to target historically “undruggable” proteins that function within the regulome. This data is leveraged to build a lab-in-the-loop AI system to discover and optimize small molecules with direct effects on regulome activity. With the world’s most comprehensive regulome activity dataset and a multidisciplinary team spanning high-throughput proteomics, machine learning, and AI-native drug discovery, Talus Bio is unlocking a new generation of precision therapeutics.

About PRISM BioLab

PRISM BioLab is a discovery and development biotechnology company utilizing proprietary PepMetics^® technology to discover orally-available small-molecule inhibitors of protein-protein interaction (PPI) targets and transform the lives of patients suffering from cancer, autoimmune disease, fibrosis, and other conditions. PepMetics^® are a unique class of small molecules that mimic three-dimensional structures of alpha-helix and beta-turn, peptide structures commonly found in intracellular PPI interfaces and receptor–ligand interactions. By combining proprietary chemistry, know-how around PPI targets, and structure-based design, PepMetics^® technology can deliver inhibitors of challenging PPI targets. The technology holds promise to expand the field of drug discovery by turning previously undruggable PPIs into targets readily druggable with small molecules and by generating oral small-molecule alternatives for injectable biologics.

PRISM BioLab is collaborating on new PPI targets with global and Japanese pharmaceutical companies. PepMetics^® targeting CBP/beta-catenin PPIs licensed to Eisai Co., Ltd. and Ohara Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd. are in clinical development for cancer and liver disease, respectively.

Contacts

Media Contact:

Eric Schudiske

[email protected]