India’s Technology Development Board has approved 86 crore rupees in research and development support for Peptris Technologies, backing the Bengaluru company as it carries four AI-discovered drug candidates toward clinical trials.
The funding arrives through the board’s Research, Development and Innovation scheme, which underwrites early stage technology bets that commercial investors consider too risky. The Department of Science and Technology signed a memorandum of understanding with the company covering the collaboration.
Peptris uses machine learning to search chemical space for compounds against previously hard-to-drug targets, then advances the most promising hits through preclinical testing. The four candidates covered by the award are headed into the studies that regulators require before any first-in-human trial.
India has been building a national case for AI-driven drug discovery, arguing that computational screening lowers the capital needed to reach a candidate. The country still has to prove those molecules can clear human trials, and analysts have noted the gap between design capacity and clinical infrastructure.
Peptris has not disclosed which targets the four programs address.
