The Cat Health Company Partners With Ad Atomica on AI-Led De Novo Drug Discovery

Partnership adds novel small-molecule approaches to TCHC’s drug-discovery platform, broadening the scope of its drug discovery beyond its internal capabilities

SAN FRANCISCO, CA, UNITED STATES, September 21, 2026 /EINPresswire.com/ -- The Cat Health Company (TCHC) has entered a strategic partnership with London-based Ad Atomica to add AI-led de novo small-molecule discovery and optimisation to its feline longevity pipeline, creating another discovery track alongside other computational approaches internally developed by TCHC.

The partnership expands TCHC’s search space rather than replacing its engine, as the company will continue to prioritise internal candidates and existing molecules when they provide the fastest and most capital-efficient route from a biological hypothesis to clinical validation. With Ad Atomica, TCHC can now also pursue proprietary new chemical matter for targets where no suitable existing molecule or approach is available.
PURR-001, TCHC’s first clinical-stage therapeutic, progressed from programme start to a European manufacturing and distribution agreement in less than two years.

Alex Voda, CEO & co-founder (TCHC): “We are excited to identify novel, best-in-class drugs with Ad Atomica and move it into feline patients when it is safe to do so. We’ve shown that we can move very quickly with our previous approaches, which brings lots of energy for our teams. A new brave step is attempting to create entirely different proprietary molecules, so that we’re not limited by what already exists. Ad Atomica creates that value chain and we are happy to partner with them.”

Ad Atomica operates a closed-loop AI drug-discovery platform that integrates computational molecular design with experimental validation and iterative optimisation. Molecules are designed, synthesised and tested, and each experimental cycle feeds results back into the computational system to refine subsequent designs.

Unlike approaches restricted to existing molecular templates, Ad Atomica constructs molecules atom by atom, allowing the platform to explore novel chemical space while simultaneously optimising drug-likeness, ADMET properties, target affinity and selectivity. Its computational platform is linked with experimental capabilities across multiple robotics-enabled laboratories, creating an iterative loop between molecular design and real-world testing.

Adam Davis, CEO (Ad Atomica): “Most medicines cats receive were never designed for them. TCHC has identified novel targets in feline health and has the ability to take new therapies into the clinic. Our platform can design and optimise entirely new small molecules against their targets. This exciting partnership is about expanding what is treatable in cats. Our technology exists to get new and better drugs to patients faster, and there is no reason those patients should only be human.”
Financial terms of the partnership were not disclosed.

About Ad Atomica
Ad Atomica is a London-based drug-discovery company bringing together physicists, bioinformaticians and entrepreneurs to develop new small-molecule therapeutics. Its closed-loop AI platform links computational molecular design with experimental validation and iterative optimisation across multiple robotics-enabled laboratories. The platform constructs molecules atom by atom rather than relying solely on existing molecular templates, allowing it to explore novel chemical space while optimising drug-likeness, ADMET, affinity and selectivity. Ad Atomica aims to make drug discovery orders of magnitude faster and cheaper by tightly integrating computational design with experimental testing.

About The Cat Health Company
The Cat Health Company develops medications against age-related diseases, focused on accelerated feline clinical validations. It is founded by an international team of scientists from University of Oxford UK, Buck Institute of Aging Research US, University of Manchester UK and major biotech industry players such as Charles River Labs, Deep Science Ventures, Genevia Technologies and others. The company is backed by strategic biotech angels (Sonia Arrison, Alex Zhavoronkov), as well as European (Early Game Ventures II) and United States (AniVC and Portfolia's Active Aging Longevity Fund II) Venture Capital funds.

Alexandru-Ioan Voda
The Cat Health Company
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Ad Atomica - Computational Drug Design