What did attendees take away at the Premier Covalent Forum in 2026?
After returning for Its 4th Year, the Covalent Drug Discovery Summit Met a Pivotal Moment
With covalent drug discovery moving from a high-risk concept to a clinically validated modality, the race was on to deliver safer, more selective, and translatable covalent therapeutics. As advances in covalent inhibitor design, chemoproteomics, novel warheads, and non-cysteine targeting continued to expand the druggable landscape, organizations were increasingly focused on successful clinical translation.
The 4th Covalent Drug Discovery & Development Summit brought together industry leaders to share cutting-edge case studies and end-to-end covalent drug development strategies, spanning across early discovery, target engagement, translational science, and clinical progression.
We dived into expert-led sessions, real-world translational insights, and meaningful networking designed to help attendees overcome selectivity and safety challenges, optimize covalent screening and discovery workflows, and confidently progress covalent candidates from design through to first-in-human studies.
Unmissable Event Highlights
Advanced Precision Covalent Design Strategies
Attendees discovered how Dana-Farber, BMS, and Leiden University expanded the covalent toolbox through novel warheads, non-cysteine targeting, and electrophile profiling. They learned how integrating structural biology and chemoproteomics enhanced selectivity, optimised reactivity, and enabled compounds to successfully progress through in vivo and IND-enabling stages.
Unlocked New Biology with Covalent Modalities
Attendees explored how Dana-Farber, Talus Bio, and Dunad Therapeutics applied covalent strategies to transcription factors, deubiquitinases, and dynamic proteins. They learned how targeting novel residues and developing CNS-penetrant compounds expanded beyond cysteine and classical inhibition to unlock previously undruggable biology.
Bridged the Gap from Discovery to First-in-Human
Attendees gained end-to-end translational insights from Biogen, Lilly, and Antares Therapeutics. They explored how leading teams integrated kinetic/KI, PK/PD, and safety data to improve decision-making, guide dose selection, and de-risk progression, enabling more confident advancement of covalent candidates into early clinical trials.
Optimized Discovery with Next-Gen Screening & AI
Attendees learned from BridGene, Frontier Medicines, Pfizer, and Axiom Therapeutics how advanced screening platforms, kinetic assays, and AI-driven modelling transformed hit identification. They discovered how proteome-wide approaches and integrated datasets reduced off-target risk and accelerated high-confidence decision-making.
Companies that attended in 2026