Ignite Biomedical and Liquid Biosciences Partner to Discover First-in-Class Drug Targets

No approved drug, clinical-stage asset, or competing research program targets the mechanisms that Liquid’s Emerge platform identifies.

FRAMINGHAM, MA / ACCESS Newswire / June 9, 2026 / Ignite Biomedical, Inc. (“Ignite”) and Liquid Biosciences, developer of the Emerge AI platform, today expanded their collaboration into drug-target discovery for new therapeutic development. Mainstream drug-discovery AI tools rely on consensus mining: they train on the published literature and databases, so they can only recombine what is already known. Emerge instead models the causal biology of disease directly from patient data. It discovers molecular biomarkers and pathways that all other quantitative methods discard. Across more than 300 projects in 53 diseases over 15 years, Emerge has not failed a prospective validation.

That difference matters most where patients have run out of options. “We spent our careers watching promising science fail patients because the tools to find the right targets were inadequate,” said Claudio Faria, PharmD, MPH, CEO of Ignite Biomedical. “That is what Emerge changes.”

Ignite and Liquid have completed drug-target discovery in three of medicine’s most underserved areas – autism spectrum disorder, post-traumatic stress disorder, and substance use disorder. These are conditions with few or no disease-modifying therapies, affecting tens of millions of U.S. patients. In each, Emerge identified novel causal molecular drug targets.

The companies are also discussing pipeline opportunities in additional therapeutic areas, including oncology, neurology, and women’s health, wherever the right patient data exists.

“We often aren’t competing for a share of an existing market,” said Patrick Lilley, CEO of Liquid Biosciences. “With Ignite, we focus on conditions without viable therapeutics and diagnostics – only patients out of options, and targets no one else has found.”

About Liquid Biosciences

Liquid Biosciences’ Emerge is the leading quantitative AI platform in biopharma. Emerge is a hypothesis-free discovery engine that models the nonlinear dynamics of how biology, behavior, and circumstances interact to drive patient outcomes. Emerge has produced validated results across diagnostics, treatment-response prediction, and molecular drug-target discovery. Liquid’s clients are global biopharma firms, diagnostic companies, and elite research institutions, and it has completed over 300 major projects across 53 diseases.

About Ignite Biomedical

Ignite Biomedical is a leader in AI-driven precision medicine, building blood-based diagnostic and therapeutic-discovery programs across immunology, autism spectrum disorder, behavioral health, substance use disorders, oncology, neurology, and women’s health. In under three years and with careful use of capital, Ignite has discovered, licensed, and advanced five validated blood-based diagnostic and treatment-response assets, plus three neuropsychiatry molecular drug-target discoveries. Co-founders Claudio Faria (PharmD, MPH) and Jake Nichols (PharmD, MBA) bring 50 combined years of pharmaceutical commercialization experience across Alexion, Celgene, Eisai, Alkermes, Indivior, and Orexo, with more than 15 products taken to market. Ignite Biomedical is headquartered in Framingham, Massachusetts.

Forward-Looking Statements

Forward-looking statements in this press release are based on future expectations, plans, prospects, and assumptions regarding matters that are not historical facts and may constitute “forward-looking statements” within the meaning of The Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. Words such as “anticipate,” “believe,” “continue,” “could,” “estimate,” “expect,” “intend,” “may,” “plan,” “potential,” “predict,” “should,” “will,” and similar expressions are intended to identify forward-looking statements. Actual results may differ materially from those contemplated. The companies undertake no obligation to update any forward-looking statement except as may be required by law.

Investor & Media Contact

Claudio Faria | Chief Executive Officer, Ignite Biomedical | cfaria@ignitebiomedical.com

SOURCE: Ignite Biomedical, Inc.

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