Rethinking discovery: how powerful screening tools are redefining the search for new medicines

By Mary Jane Hinrichs, SVP Head of Early Development and Innovation

In medicine discovery, identifying the right biological target has always been a critical and complex step. Today, the rise of powerful screening tools is fundamentally reshaping this process, creating a step-change in how we move from scientific hypotheses to transformative medicines. Advances in high-throughput screening, genomics and AI-driven analytics are enabling scientists to interrogate disease biology at unprecedented scale, bringing forward opportunities that were previously beyond reach.

And this evolution is playing directly to the strengths of Ipsen’s approach. Breakthrough research is increasingly emerging from academia and biotech, where advanced screening platforms are revealing novel targets. Expanding our pipeline by partnering across this ecosystem, we can access the most promising opportunities early, matching the pace of discovery at its source with our capabilities to accelerate development. With core expertise from clinical pharmaceutics (selecting and formulating a medicine) to pharmacometrics modelling (predicting how a medicine works in the body) and biomarker translation (measuring treatment effect), we are translating molecules into medicines.

A key example of this approach is our antibody drug conjugate (ADC), IPN60300, partnered with Foreseen Biotechnology. In July 2024, Ipsen was granted an exclusive worldwide license for the development, manufacture and commercialization of this innovative ADC and we have since accelerated development to Phase I/II trials. The novel target, ITGA2, was discovered by leveraging Foreseen’s Machine Learning Enabled Translational-optimized Proteomics System and validated through their high throughput screening platform. This was achieved through evaluation of an extensive collection of clinical samples to identify novel disease-specific targets which are highly aligned to the disease and its impact on patients. Proteomics approaches, such as these, have the potential to improve the probability of success of identifying high-impact targets.

Importantly, combining expertise is enabling us to go beyond incremental progress. By selecting the right targets and molecules earlier and accelerating their development through a connected, data-driven approach, we are creating the conditions to deliver best- and first-in-class medicines in areas of high unmet need.

Ultimately, the ambition is clear: to turn hypotheses into transformational medicines faster. Because the true promise of screening lies not just in what is discovered, but in how quickly and confidently we can translate those discoveries into meaningful impact for patients.