By Matt Clark, CSO, X-Chem
As 2025 concludes, the momentum at X-Chem is evident. While our most impactful work is often shielded by intellectual property, this year’s high-profile publications and platform launches offers a window into how we are bridging the gap between massive data and clinical reality.
The launch of chemomics
The defining achievement of 2025 was the debut of our Chemomics platform. This represents the distillation of years of expertise in data analysis, structure-based descriptors, and DEL informatics into a tangible advantage for our partners. For our clients, Chemomics enables us to expand hit lists, execute scaffold-hops, and fully elaborate SAR landscapes in a matter of weeks rather than months. Seeing our partners immediately adopt this technology to compress their Hit-to-Lead timelines and sharpen their medicinal chemistry focus has been a highlight.
A leading role in mapping the proteome
The engine behind Chemomics is the unmatched scale and quality of our DEL data. We are seeing a global shift in how DEL data is used—not just for individual hits, but for mapping protein-ligand interactions across the unexplored proteome. X-Chem is proud to be a key driver of this movement through our involvement in the Target 2035 initiative. By contributing our high-quality data and expertise to this ambitious global mission to solve probe generation across the proteome, we are helping build the foundational infrastructure for the next decade of ML-driven discovery.
Enabling breakthroughs: the “push-start” for partner programs
Our partnership mission is often to provide the critical chemical “seed” that allows therapeutic programs to accelerate toward the clinic. We are fortunate that this year, several key successes have entered the public domain, allowing us to disclose the following milestones:
- Clinical momentum in oncology: A successful hit identification campaign provided a high-quality starting point for MOMA to optimize to MOMA-341, now a clinical candidate in phase 1 trials.
- Immunology advancements: We saw the reporting of significant progress in a major IL-17 program (Janssen), built upon a robust foundation identified through our DEL platform. This journey from hit to advanced lead demonstrates the power of our libraries in tackling high-value cytokine targets.
- Targeted protein degradation: Recent disclosures highlighted the discovery of novel ligands for the E3 ligase STUB1 (AstraZeneca) and the chromatin regulator WDR5 (SGC). These projects demonstrate the exquisite selectivity our libraries offer for modern chemical probes and E3 binders.
Toolbox to engineer next-generation leads
Our chemistry teams continue to pioneer methodologies that overcome the synthetic hurdles inherent in modern drug design. For instance, our disclosure of a photoredox-mediated amidine functionalization method offers a distinct advantage to “fine-tune” a molecule’s properties, helping our partners improve both the potency and the drug-like characteristics of their compounds.
In addition, in collaboration with Pfizer, we developed stereoselective routes for trans-cyclopropyl ester synthesis. These new synthetic routes allow our partners to execute rapid scale-up while maintaining precise control over molecular geometry, ensuring the transition from initial discovery to large-scale production is as smooth as possible.
While we take pride in our scientific disclosures, our ultimate focus is unchanged: applying the most advanced drug discovery platform in the world to create molecules that improve lives. Every project we prosecute, every data point we generate, and every compound we deliver is a step toward providing our partners with the scientific excellence they need to turn medical challenges into breakthroughs.
