Talus Bioscience, Inc.

TOKYO, Dec. 17, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- PRISM BioLab, Co. Ltd. ("PRISM") and Talus Bioscience, Inc. ("Talus Bio") announced today that they entered into a collaboration to discover novel Inhibitors of transcription factor (TF) and protein-protein interaction (PPI) targets. By combining Talus Bio's assay technologies for screening for TF and PPI inhibitors in native cellular environment with PRISM's chemistry designed to target protein-protein interactions, companies are in a unique position to discover and develop drugs against these challenging targets. 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 Bio 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 Bio technologies can interrogate 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 Bio's regulome analysis platform has a 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 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 Bio's 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." This collaboration represents a pivotal step for both companies in establishing a systematic, scalable strategy to address TF and PPI targets. Together, PRISM and Talus Bio are creating a unified platform capable of revealing and modulating regulatory mechanisms that have remained undruggable for decades. By combining PRISM's PepMetics® technology with Talus Bio's regulome profiling capabilities, the collaboration opens the door to therapies addressing diseases caused by previously undruggable targets. About Talus Biosciences 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 lives of patients suffering from cancer, autoimmune, fibrosis and other diseases. PepMetics® are a unique class of small molecules that mimic three-dimensional structures of alpha-helix and beta-turn, the peptide structures commonly found in intracellular PPI interphases 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 Pharmaceuticals Co., Ltd. are in clinical development for cancer and liver disease, respectively. SOURCE PRISM Biolab 21% more press release views with Request a Demo

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.

Talus is targeting transcription factors, genome-regulating proteins that can direct which genes are turned on or off. Seattle-based Talus Bioscience has raised $11.2 million in an early fundraising round, money that will go toward advancing the biotech’s portfolio of preclinical cancer programs and help build out the biotech’s drug discovery platform.California VC Two Bear Capital led the charge for the “seed+” round, with participation from WRF Capital, NFX, YC Continuity Fund, Funders Club VC and BoxOne Ventures.Talus Bio is targeting a challenging transcription factor linked to prostate cancer, plus brachyury-driven cancers. Brachyury is a transcription factor that regulates tumor development in chordoma—a rare bone tumor that forms in the spine or base of the skull.Transcription factors are genome-regulating proteins that can direct which genes are turned on or off. However, when the process goes awry, the proteins can drive certain disease processes, such as cancer, diabetes, inflammatory diseases, fibrosis and neurological conditions. Talus Bio’s new funds will also go toward expanding the biotech’s therapeutics discovery platform, dubbed Multiplexed Assays for the Rational Modulation Of Transcription Factors (MARMOT). The technology combines AI, next-gen proteomics, synthetic chemistry and computational biology, to quickly identify potential drug candidates, according to an Aug. 20 release. “With our growing team of leading data scientists, we can use tens of millions of data points generated from the MARMOT platform to predict the best places to look for new molecules to block disease-causing transcription factors,” Talus CEO and co-founder Alex Federation, Ph.D., said in the company release. “We’re just getting started as we source new partners to help advance the dozens of promising transcription factor candidates we have discovered to date.”The founder-led biotech launched in 2020, with co-founder Lindsay Pino, Ph.D., on board as chief technology officer. Together, the Talus team is searching for therapeutics for the historically difficult-to-reach transcription factors by knocking them off of DNA.Since inception, Talus has received more than $7.3 million in grants, plus $8.5 million in additional venture funds.