Overcoming “No Hit” and Hit Expansion Bottlenecks: An Integrated HTS, AI, and DEL Approach for Difficult-to-Drug Targets

Title : Overcoming “No Hit” and Hit Expansion Bottlenecks: An Integrated HTS, AI, and DEL Approach for Difficult-to-Drug Targets

Webinar Overview :
Early-stage drug discovery is often hindered by two major challenges. The first is identifying initial hits against difficult-to-drug targets. The second is advancing HTS-derived hits into high-quality lead candidates. Many hits fail due to off-target activity, poor ADME-Tox profiles, limited SAR opportunities, or insufficient tractability for medicinal chemistry optimization. These limitations can slow project progression and reduce the likelihood of discovering differentiated candidates, highlighting the growing interest in innovative approaches to improve both hit identification and hit expansion.

To address these challenges, Axcelead has established an integrated hit discovery platform that combines HTS, AI, and DEL technologies. Our proprietary AI model supports hit expansion through hit-neighbor exploration, scaffold hopping, and predictive modeling of biological activity and ADMET properties. In parallel, Axcelead’s DEL platform, addressing key limitations associated with traditional DEL technology, expands access to chemical space beyond that covered by conventional HTS collections. Together, these capabilities support a more efficient path from hit discovery to lead identification.

In this webinar, we will introduce a screening platform that has succeeded in generating hits in over 95% of projects, a high-precision AI model built on a proprietary AI foundation model established from an inherited large-scale in vitro database, and our novel DEL technology.

Participants will gain insights into integrated strategies for hit identification and hit expansion, combining AI-driven prediction, experimental validation, and access to expanded chemical space. By the end of the session, attendees will have a clearer understanding of how integrated technologies can accelerate early drug discovery projects.

Key topics include:

• Leveraging Axcelead’s proprietary 1.25M+ Compound HTS library and AI models for high-quality hit discovery and rapid lead generation in a lab-in-the-loop workflow
• Overcoming conventional DEL limitations with Axcelead’s DEL technology
• Axcelead’s unified HTS, AI, and DEL workflow for accelerating early-stage drug discovery