Cambridge, UK & Barcelona, Spain — 27th August 2025 — Domainex, a leading integrated drug discovery services company, and Pharmacelera, a pioneer in AI-based molecular modelling technologies, today announced a strategic collaboration to support discovery programmes focused on transmembrane proteins such as G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) and ion channels—critical therapeutic targets implicated in a broad range of diseases.
Transmembrane proteins represent over 60% of current drug targets but pose significant challenges for drug discovery due to their structural complexity and instability outside the lipid membrane environment. By combining their complementary technologies and expertise, Domainex and Pharmacelera aim to overcome these hurdles and accelerate the discovery of novel, high-quality drug candidates.
Under the partnership, Domainex will contribute its Polymer Lipid Particle (PoLiPa) technology (which stabilises membrane protein targets by encapsulating them in polymer nanodiscs, allowing purification in their native state for screening), alongside its Direct-to-Biology (D2B) platform for high-throughput synthesis and biological testing. Pharmacelera will integrate its state-of-the-art AI-driven platforms—exaScreen® and PharmScreen®—for advanced molecular modelling, virtual screening, and library design. Together, the companies will offer a comprehensive and seamless solution to identify and optimise hits against these challenging targets.
“This collaboration between Domainex and Pharmacelera combines innovative technologies and represents optimal approaches for drug discovery programmes and is part of our commitment to achieve faster and successful approvals for our customers.” said Dr Hayley French, CEO of Domainex.
“We are excited to partner with Domainex,” said Dr. Enric Gibert, CEO of Pharmacelera. “This partnership reflects our shared commitment to advancing science and bringing impactful therapeutics in challenging areas. By pairing our cutting-edge AI models with Domainex’s experimental data and technology platforms, we can accelerate the path from concept to candidate.
About Domainex
Domainex is a multi-award-winning, integrated drug discovery service partner which provides tailored discovery solutions from target expression through to the identification of pre-clinical candidates. Our world-leading experts accelerate research projects by combining a problem-solving approach with cutting-edge technologies such as PoLiPa and D2B. With deep expertise across a wide range of target classes and therapeutic areas, and a core focus on the hit identification and hit-to-lead stages, we deliver high-quality results that support confident, timely decision-making for our partners.
Domainex operates from state of the art facilities in the Cambridge area, UK. The company has also expanded internationally and has opened an office in Cambridge, MA, to service the thriving biotechnology industry in North America
Further information about Domainex and our award-winning lead discovery services can be found at www.domainex.co.uk.
About Pharmacelera
Pharmacelera develops advanced computational tools for the discovery of novel hits using accurate Quantum-Mechanics (QM), Artificial Intelligence (AI) and High-Performance Computing (HPC). The company’s products PharmScreen®, exaScreen® and PharmQSAR use 3D molecular descriptors derived from Quantum-Mechanics (QM) calculations to mine an unexplored chemical space and to identify hits uncovered by traditional algorithms. Pharmacelera is a private company founded in 2015 and based in Barcelona, Spain. The company works with several big pharma and biotech organizations across Europe and the United States.