Laboratoires Pierre Fabre and XtalPi Announce an AI-Driven Collaboration Focused on Drug Discovery

CASTRES, France and SHENZHEN, Nov. 9, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Laboratoires Pierre Fabre and XtalPi (XtalPi Holdings Limited, 2228.HK) are pleased to announce an agreement under which they will collaborate on the discovery of novel clinical candidates across a number of research programs in the field of oncology, potentially dermatology, and rare diseases. 

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Under the agreement, XtalPi will use its integrated AI capabilities and robotics platform to de novo design and deliver novel small molecule therapeutics against undisclosed targets.  Laboratoires Pierre Fabre will contribute with its expertise in disease biology, discovery, translational research, and clinical development to select and advance the most promising compounds, and will be responsible for subsequent clinical and commercial development. 

The collaboration reflects the parties' shared interest in exploring challenging and historically hard-to-drug targets—an area associated with significant unmet medical need and substantial opportunity in innovative drug discovery.

For Laboratoires Pierre Fabre, this agreement represents a strategic addition to its R&D roadmap, strengthening its drug discovery capabilities. It also advances XtalPi's efforts to apply AI and robotics to de novo drug discovery. Together, the companies aim to accelerate the identification of high-quality clinical candidates across multiple research programs in oncology and potentially other therapeutic areas. 

Raymond Zheng, Head of Integrated Drug Discovery at XtalPi said: "We are honored to enter into this collaboration with Laboratoires Pierre Fabre, a respected international pharmaceutical company. This partnership combines XtalPi's AI and robotics capabilities with Laboratoires Pierre Fabre's established therapeutic development expertise. We aim to advance promising preclinical candidates to benefit patients with unmet medical needs."

Francesco Hofmann, Head of Pharma Research and Development at Laboratoires Pierre Fabre said: "Partnering with XtalPi represents an important milestone for us. Leveraging the expertise of XtalPi on AI to accelerate the delivery of high-quality clinical candidates for multiple targets is a critical addition to our R&D Data and AI roadmap and to our discovery engine". 

The agreement includes an upfront payment, multiple milestone payments and downstream economic participation; specific financial terms were not disclosed. 

For more information, visit www.pierre-fabre.com, @Laboratoires Pierre Fabre, @Pierre Fabre Oncology

Laboratoires Pierre Fabre Media Contact:

Laure Bregeon-Sgandurra
Laure.Sgandurra@pierre-fabre.com