Scientists at Insilico Medicine, a clinical-stage biotech firm based in Masdar City, Abu Dhabi, have used artificial intelligence to identify a new class of drugs known as PROTACs that could treat blood cancers, including certain leukaemias and lymphomas. Rather than temporarily binding to Bruton's tyrosine kinase, the protein that drives malignant blood cells to multiply, these compounds destroy it entirely.
Ahmad Alghaith, an Emirati organic chemist with a master's degree from University College London who worked on the project, said the promise of AI lies in raising success rates while cutting both time and cost. According to him, the AI-driven approach narrows the drug-selection timeline from the usual two-and-a-half to four years down to just 12 to 18 months.
Insilico Medicine also runs an AI and quantum-computing centre at the headquarters of the International Renewable Energy Agency in Abu Dhabi, and is backed by the Abu Dhabi Investment Office.
This marks the company's third major AI-assisted drug discovery announced in 2026, following a brain-cancer drug candidate in April and a non-opioid molecule for chronic pain in July.
The findings were published in the Journal of Medicinal Chemistry. Researchers caution that human trials are still likely years away, pending preclinical work and regulatory approval.
The discovery underscores how Abu Dhabi, alongside its heavy investment in AI infrastructure, is steadily building a reputation as a regional hub for pharmaceutical research.