‘An AlphaFold 4’ – scientists marvel at DeepMind drug spin-off’s exclusive new AI

nature.com
February 22, 2026
2 min read
52/100
Summary
Isomorphic Lab has developed a proprietary drug-discovery model, marking a significant advancement in the field. This new AI, referred to as "AlphaFold 4," has garnered attention from scientists for its capabilities.
Key Takeaways
- Isomorphic Labs announced a new proprietary AI model for drug discovery called IsoDDE, which outperforms existing models like Boltz-2 and traditional physics-based methods in predicting drug-protein interactions and binding affinities.
- IsoDDE's capabilities include precise predictions of protein interactions with potential drugs and antibody structures, marking a significant advancement in the field comparable to an unreleased AlphaFold 4.
- Unlike AlphaFold, which was made accessible to researchers, IsoDDE's proprietary nature leaves scientists developing open-source tools without insights into its methodologies.
- IsoDDE demonstrates a novel ability to predict interactions for molecules that differ significantly from its training data, indicating advanced underlying techniques.
Coverage & discussions
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