Aizen Raises Up to $100M Per Target in San Diego Biotech Peptide Deal

What happened

Aizen Therapeutics announced a multi-program collaboration with an unnamed public San Diego biotech. Aizen's DaX foundation model will design oral peptide therapeutics for immunology and neurology targets. The deal includes a several-million-dollar upfront payment and milestone payments potentially reaching $100 million per nominated target.

Why it matters

Peptides normally require injection because the gut degrades them. Aizen uses non-canonical amino acids (ncAAs) to improve stability and oral bioavailability. The DaX platform explores ncAA space at ten times the scale of conventional methods, trained on millions of annotated molecules and receptors. This deal tests whether AI-designed oral peptides can engage targets in vivo. The partner exercising options on additional targets within 12 months would confirm the platform produces viable lead structures, not just in silico outputs.