New company Deep Apple Therapeutics unveiled

US life sciences venture capital firm Apple Tree Partners has announced $52 million in Series A funding for its portfolio company Deep Apple Therapeutics, created and incubated by ATP to rapidly discover novel small molecule therapeutics for high-value targets through virtual screening of AI-generated virtual libraries.

ATP says that, with a powerful discovery engine that combines ensemble cryo-EM, deep learning, and molecular docking screens of ultra-large libraries, Deep Apple can go from target identification to lead optimization in less than 12 months – a fraction of the industry standard time – and can pursue biological target signaling inaccessible to conventional discovery approaches. Three of its seven programs are focused on obesity and weight management, not just weight loss.

Deep Apple’s discovery engine is broadly applicable across disease areas and is particularly well-suited to expedited hit-finding against integral membrane proteins. The company currently is advancing multiple programs focused on GPCR modulators, a proven target class with applications in metabolic disorders, inflammation, immunology, and endocrine diseases.