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Takeda is reshaping its research focus once again. After exiting cell therapy, the Japanese pharma giant is turning to artificial intelligence to fuel its next wave of innovation. Its latest move? A billion-dollar partnership with AI drug design startup Nabla Bio.
The new multiyear deal, announced October 14, strengthens Takeda’s earlier 2024 collaboration with Nabla. The Harvard spinout will receive a double-digit million upfront payment, with the potential to earn over $1 billion in future milestones.
Nabla’s platform, the Joint Atomic Model (JAM), uses advanced AI to design and optimize antibodies and multispecific biologics. These tools can generate new therapeutics that target multiple disease pathways at once, accelerating discovery across Takeda’s key areas—gastrointestinal and inflammation, neuroscience, oncology, and rare genetics.
The renewed partnership comes as Takeda tightens its R&D scope. In early October, the company laid off 137 employees in Massachusetts and confirmed its withdrawal from cell therapy. Takeda’s future now depends on biologics, small molecules, and antibody-drug conjugates—areas where AI tools like JAM could speed results.
Founded in 2021, Nabla Bio has already worked with AstraZeneca and Bristol Myers Squibb. With Takeda’s deep resources and Nabla’s machine learning power, the alliance could redefine how big pharma discovers new medicines—one algorithm at a time.
