Carterra, with its HT-SPR technology platforms, is listed alongside large public companies as a technology provider to capitalize on the likely growth in wet lab work driven by the increasing use of AI in early discovery

SALT LAKE CITY: William Blair analysts Matthew Larew and Jacob Krahenbuhl published a white paper this week entitled, “From Code to Clinic: How AI Is (and Isn’t) Rewriting the Life of a Drug”1. As part of their analysis, they asserted that wet lab experiments will likely increase as the use of AI permeates drug discovery workflows and labeled Carterra a “Winner” in providing novel technology in the following categories:

• Antigen and Assay Preparation
• Hit ID/Antibody Preparation/Primary Screening
• Binding and Characterization
• Antibody Engineering and Optimization

Larew and Krahenbuhl confront the assertion that AI will decrease the need for wet lab experiments as more research is done in silico, or, on the computer. “AI is not replacing the physical work of drug discovery, but it is reshaping it. It is true that AI is increasingly being leveraged as a dry lab (i.e., computational) tool for hypothesis generation, but those hypotheses will always need to be physically tested in the wet lab.” They concluded, “…the wet lab obsolescence narrative is overstated and misframed.”

After a host of interviews with 20 companies and key opinion leaders in the industry, Larew and Krahenbuhl describe in detail how AI is changing drug discovery, the rate of adoption of AI workflows, and the seminal methods and technologies that will enable this brave new world. “AI can serve as a tailwind to the broader ecosystem (e.g., powering the production and adaptation of biological models, shifting test volume to high-content and connected instruments, accelerating drug discovery…).”

More specifically, Larew and Krahenbuhl identify Carterra technology as a way to capitalize on the massive amounts of screening and characterization data required in AI workflows. “Carterra’s high-throughput SPR technology is potentially creating an opportunity to move straight to SPR because its high-throughput system matches the larger scale of binders emerging from AI lead generation programs.” Legacy programs where binding assays have been yes/no or simply low throughput, the Blair analysts contend that, “Carterra’s high-throughput SPR (HT-SPR) is gaining traction as an alternative to ELISA and SPR/BLI steps.”

Carterra has been developing label-free biosensors using high-throughput surface plasmon resonance (HT-SPR) for more than 20 years and powered by an early investment from Pfizer. Platforms that specialize in both biologics and small molecule characterization and screening are found in each of the largest 20 pharmaceutical companies on four continents. Carterra’s newest platform, Vega, launched in early 2026, allows investigators for the first time to use gold-standard SPR in primary screening where more than 20,000 small molecule compounds can be screened in a day, an order of magnitude greater than existing technologies2.

William Blair & Company is an American multinational independent investment bank and financial services company focusing on investment banking, investment management, and private wealth management. The firm currently reports $17 billion of reportable assets. Their research has guided investments in the life sciences and healthcare for decades.

“We’re grateful for the recognition of Carterra as a winner and enabler in the AI revolution occurring in drug discovery,” said Josh Eckman, CEO and Co-Founder of Carterra. “William Blair is well respected in our industry for thoughtful and detailed research. We appreciate the coverage and will continue to innovate in early discovery to shorten the time to market as well as the likelihood of success in the clinic.”

Fonte: Business Wire