-- Chugai Venture Fund and the Gates Foundation join new wave of institutional backing for breakthrough BEYOND discovery platform --

-- BEYOND, an AI-driven drug discovery platform, aims to achieve drug-discovery superintelligence by simulating trillions of potential drugs per protein with an accuracy nearing laboratory experiments --

-- Ten63, with support from the Gates Foundation, will develop affordable small molecules to address the global HPV pandemic by pursuing previously undruggable viral targets -- 

DURHAM, N.C., Feb. 19, 2026 /PRNewswire/ -- Ten63 Therapeutics, an advanced AI drug-discovery company, today announced that it added strategic investment from new investors Chugai Venture Fund and the Gates Foundation, bringing the Company's total funding to over $45M.

"We are very impressed with Ten63's AI drug discovery platform and its ability to quickly and accurately simulate trillions of potential drugs," said John Gustofson, President and Head of Chugai Venture Fund. "However, this is not just about making drug discovery faster. It's about creating medicines for targets no one else can and designing better alternatives where existing drugs deliver inadequate results."

The increased funding will fuel the advancement of Ten63's proprietary computational drug discovery platform, BEYOND.  BEYOND is the world's first Large Quantum Chemistry Model (LQCM), delivering precise quantum-mechanics level simulations that are orders of magnitude faster than other cutting-edge computational approaches. The company says BEYOND enables the pursuit of previously undruggable targets, which correspond to 80% of all proteins in the human body. Ten63 has multiple programs showing its platform can overcome previously intractable problems. One such program focuses on Myc, one of the most-studied oncogenes, which has long been considered undruggable and is believed to drive 70% of all cancers. Despite hundreds of attempts spanning 40 years, it remains elusive. With the mathematical breakthroughs behind BEYOND, Ten63 has Myc-targeting therapeutics in active development that surpass all previous attempts at Myc inhibition.

"AI not only accelerates drug discovery; it enables us to pursue high-impact targets in ways that were previously impossible. Many of the most important targets across multiple diseases are considered undruggable. These critical targets are data-poor and difficult to reach experimentally. Making them exceptionally difficult for traditional experimental screening and current AI techniques. They require a new approach," said Marcel Frenkel, PhD, CEO of Ten63 Therapeutics.

Powered by BEYOND, the company is pursuing a pipeline of first- and best-in-class small molecules against some of the most impactful oncology targets. The company is focused on high-impact, but thus far undruggable or underdrugged disease targets.   

Frenkel continued, "By perfecting a simulation environment that enables AI to explore and learn from trillions of molecular possibilities, millions of times faster than physical methods, while retaining experimental-level accuracy, we are advancing towards superintelligence for drug discovery. At that point, we believe little will remain undruggable."

New investors, the Gates Foundation and Chugai Venture Fund, RYSE, K5 Global, SF Holdings, Duke Capital Partners, Cape Fear BioCapital, Black Opal Ventures, and Panorama, joined Ten63's existing syndicate, including Hatteras Venture Partners, Yosemite, Morpheus Ventures, Alexandria Venture Investments, and Draper Associates, in the latest funding round.

In connection with the financing, Mike Dial, Ph.D., Managing Director of Chugai Venture Fund, joined Ten63's board of directors.

Coordinated Global Effort
In connection with the investment, Ten63 also received a grant from the Gates Foundation to support a global strategy to address one of the deadliest cancers worldwide: cervical cancer.

Human papillomavirus (HPV) is the most common sexually transmitted infection in the world. Some strains of HPV are high-risk and can lead to cancers, like cervical, vulvar, and vaginal cancers. Each year, HPV causes cancer in more than 650,000 women and men. Early detection and treatment of precancerous cells can prevent this from happening. Ten63's BEYOND platform is being used to develop cost-effective and safe treatments for HPV lesions worldwide by tackling the viral proteins that lead to cancer and have so far been undruggable.   

"The enthusiasm and momentum behind this new funding validates what we've believed from the beginning," says Clay Thorp, Ten63 Chairman of the Board and General Partner at Hatteras Venture Partners "Ten63's approach has the potential to transform not just cancer treatment, but the entire spectrum of drug discovery."

About Ten63 Therapeutics
Ten63 is an advanced AI drug-discovery company that was a Duke and TTIC spin-out, headquartered in the Research Triangle in North Carolina. Ten63 is leveraging its BEYOND computational platform for generative chemistry to develop first- and best-in-class therapeutics. The company is advancing an internal oncology pipeline while pursuing select, strategic partnerships across multiple indications. For more information, visit https://www.ten63tx.com/ and follow us on LinkedIn.

About Chugai Venture Foundation
Chugai Venture Fund (CVF) is an investment firm dedicated to advancing transformative medicines in the life sciences industry. As a subsidiary of Chugai Pharmaceutical Co., Ltd., CVF utilizes its parent company's extensive expertise and global reach to assist in evaluating cutting-edge technologies. The CVF team searches for promising management teams and innovative medicines that can help patients feel better. The CVF mission is to assist entrepreneurs and teams in realizing their novel ideas, ultimately contributing to improving healthcare and society. By providing funding and access to valuable resources, CVF aims to foster a collaborative ecosystem that accelerates the development and commercialization of pioneering therapies and medical solutions.

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SOURCE Ten63 Therapeutics