XtalPi’s Ailux Biologics Enters License Agreement with Janssen Biotech to Advance AI-Powered Biologics Discovery

XtalPi Inc., an AI-driven R&D platform company, announced that its division, Ailux Biologics, has entered into a non-exclusive license agreement with Janssen Biotech, Inc., a subsidiary of Johnson & Johnson. The agreement enables Janssen to leverage Ailux Biologics' proprietary AI-based software suite, XtalFold, for the discovery and engineering of biologics.

XtalFold is an AI-based platform developed to predict the structures of antigen-antibody complexes using only sequence information, enabling faster and more accurate modeling of biologic therapeutics, including complex molecules like monoclonal antibodies. Reportedly, it has been validated in over 30 partner and internal research programs, supporting applications such as antigen design and bispecific antibody engineering.

According to Ailux's case study, XtalFold has demonstrated superior accuracy compared to other methods like AlphaFold-Multimer in modeling difficult regions such as the antibody-antigen interface. It utilizes a confidence scoring system to refine predictions, achieving up to a 90% success rate for high-confidence data. This makes it a powerful tool for generating 3D structures in cases where traditional experimental methods are challenging or time-consuming.

From the case study: Prediction results of XtalFold and AlphaFold-Multimer for three antigen-antibody (Fv/Fab/VHH) complexes.

The platform’s primary advantage, as noted in the case study, is its ability to predict complex protein structures directly from sequences, making it ideal for epitope mapping, lead optimization, and antibody design. By providing precise structural insights, XtalFold reportedly facilitates more efficient development of biologic therapeutics, reducing development time and enhancing research outcomes.

The agreement between XtalPi’s Ailux Biologics and Janssen Biotech on the use of XtalFold marks a strategic move to integrate AI technologies in biologics research. Ailux Biologics also offers additional AI platforms, such as the protein language model XenProT and predictive suite Xentient, reflecting the broader trend of utilizing AI to drive innovations in biologics discovery and engineering.

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