Dr Michael Bauer on Quantro’s mission to drug the “undruggable”
Nearly two years on from their first meeting at JP Morgan 2025, pharmaphorum editor-in-chief Jonah Comstock reunited with Dr Michael Bauer, CEO of Quantro Therapeutics, at LSX 2026 to discuss the company's progress and what artificial intelligence (AI) and machine learning could mean for the future of drug discovery.
Bauer explains how the company’s function-first approach to drug discovery, which prioritises biological outcomes before determining a compound's precise mechanism of action, has helped the company rapidly generate novel, patentable chemical matter and progress early-stage programmes from assay design to validated hits.
The interview, recorded live on-site at LSX 2026, also touches upon the growing role of AI in R&D. From advancements in structure-based drug design and virtual screening to the limitations that remain for transcription factors and other targets lacking reliable structural data, he reflects on how the technology is impacting the industry, and why he believes rich transcriptomic datasets could be pivotal to developing more predictive AI models in the future.
Watch the full interview to learn more about Quantro Therapeutics’ work combining transcriptomics, innovative screening approaches, and emerging AI technologies to develop treatments that target the “undruggable”.
