HAMBURG, Germany and SCHLIEREN, Switzerland, 4th September 2025 – CrystalsFirst GmbH, a leader in high-performance structural biology services, and NexMR AG, a pioneer in ultrafast NMR screening, today announced an exclusive partnership to accelerate fragment-based drug discovery. Under this agreement, NexMR’s cutting-edge SmartSpinTM technology – which uses laser systems to boost NMR signals – will now be available through CrystalsFirst. This integration makes CrystalsFirst the sole provider of NexMR’s photo-inducible NMR services worldwide, combining two high-throughput platforms into one streamlined solution for drug discovery.

Fragment-Based Drug Discovery (FBDD) is a powerful approach to developing new medicines by screening small molecular “fragments” and analyzing how they bind to target proteins. The success of FBDD heavily relies on efficient fragment screening and accurate structural determination of protein–fragment complexes. By uniting NexMR’s SmartSpinTM screening technology with CrystalsFirst’s high-performance structural biology platform, the partnership addresses both needs of FBDD. Researchers will be able to rapidly identify fragment hits via NMR and immediately obtain high-resolution crystal structures of those hits – all through a single, integrated service.

NexMRʼs photo-inducible NMR technology (based on photo-CIDNP hyperpolarization) uses integrated laser systems to dramatically enhance NMR signals from fragment molecules. This innovation enables the detection of fragment binding within seconds to minutes, rather than hours, by boosting sensitivity at room temperature in aqueous solutions. In effect, photo-induced signal boosting can reduce screening time from over 200 hours to just a few hours, while decreasing sample amounts by 30–50 times compared to traditional NMR screening methods. These advantages enable rapid and efficient fragment screening on a scale previously unattainable in NMR. NexMR’s approach also works on compact, cryogen-free NMR instruments – screening up to one sample every five minutes on a benchtop spectrometer.

CrystalsFirstʼs MAGNET Discovery Engine complements NexMR’s technology by providing high-throughput structural biology capabilities. CrystalsFirst is renowned for its proprietary MAGNET platform, integrating SmartSoak®, which achieves high-performance protein–ligand complexes up to 10-times faster than conventional methods. This means once NMR identifies promising fragment hits, CrystalsFirst applies SmartSoak® to rapidly determine crystal structures of those protein–fragment complexes.

Together, NexMRʼs ultrafast SmartSpinTM and CrystalsFirstʼs SmartSoak® technologies create a seamless high-throughput workflow – from initial hit finding to 3D structure elucidation. Drug discovery campaigns will gain faster insights into how fragments interact with their protein targets, enabling informed decisions on hit expansion and medicinal chemistry much earlier in the project.

Our MAGNET platform

• combines proprietary generative AI with SmartSoak^®-technology
• enables real-time, structure-based validation in an iterative design loop
• Actively delivering validated chemical matter in ongoing campaigns
• each campaign runs on a dedicated generative AI model
  •  full IP ownership stays with the client
• scalable across targets
  • molecular glues and other challenging modalities

HAMBURG, Germany, & OSS, The Netherlands — June 19, 2025 — Flindr Therapeutics, a precision oncology company developing first-in-class small molecule inhibitors for cancer, and CrystalsFirst, a leader in structure-based drug discovery and target enablement, today announced a strategic partnership to accelerate target enablement and drug discovery across Flindr’s oncology pipeline. The collaboration combines Flindr’s novel cancer targets with CrystalsFirst’s advanced target enablement platform to speed up the creation of new therapies for patients with difficult-to-treat cancers.

CrystalsFirst has delivered valuable structural insights that guided Flindr’s medicinal chemistry efforts, accelerating the progression from hits to an optimized lead compound of RNF31. Following a successful initial engagement, Flindr and CrystalsFirst will explore further applications of CrystalsFirst’s MAGNET platform across selected programs in Flindr’s pipeline. By integrating cutting edge crystallography and AI-driven molecular design, Flindr aims to fast-track additional first-in-class programs toward preclinical development. The alliance underscores both companies’ commitment to leveraging cutting-edge technology to deliver novel cancer therapeutics to patients faster.

HAMBURG, Germany, & BOULDER, Colorado, USA — May 9, 2025 — Think Bioscience, a small molecule discovery company that leverages synthetic biology to find novel binding pockets on challenging drug targets, and CrystalsFirst, a leader in structure-based drug discovery solutions, today announced that their ongoing collaboration has led to the identification of novel mechanisms of action for several difficult targets in Think Bioscience’s pipeline. Building on this success, the two companies have agreed to expand their partnership.

In their initial collaboration, Think Bioscience’s researchers worked closely with CrystalsFirst’s team to apply the MAGNET platform to challenging targets. This approach rapidly generated abundant structural data enabled by the SmartSoak®-technology. The rich structural data and structure-guided compound designs have not only accelerated the progression from targets to lead candidates but also unveiled new binding mechanisms. These novel insights are enabling Think Bioscience to devise therapeutic strategies that were not possible using conventional methods.

Buoyed by their early success, the two companies will expand their collaboration to include additional pipeline programs and expanded use of the MAGNET platform. By continuing to integrate CrystalsFirst’s structural biology capabilities early in the discovery process, Think Bioscience aims to accelerate first-in-class drug programs that address high unmet medical need. This expanded partnership underscores the commitment of both Think Bioscience and CrystalsFirst to push the boundaries of drug discovery for challenging targets.