ByteDance’s drug unit, also known as Anew Therapeutics or ByteDance AI Drug Discovery, presented AI-designed drug candidates at multiple international conferences in April and May 2026 [1]. The unit operates from Shanghai, Singapore, and San Jose, California, and features 36 core members on its official website [1]. Its scientific advisory board includes Liu Yongjun, Ji Ma, and Hua Zou, who guide its research direction [1].
In mid-April, Chris Li presented one of Anew Labs’ four pipeline drug candidates at Immunology2026 held in Boston. The drug was designed using generative AI technology targeting certain autoimmune diseases [1]. Later in April, She Yuli took part in the International Conference on Learning Representations in Rio de Janeiro, a prominent event focused on advances in machine learning and AI [1].
Most recently, Yu Haoyu planned to attend the 2026 Free Energy Workshop in Barcelona, which started on May 4. He was slated to present AnewSampling, a computational framework developed by the company to reproduce molecular dynamics at the all-atom level, critical for drug discovery simulations [1].
The events highlight the drug unit’s active role in combining AI with pharmaceutical research across immunology and computational chemistry fields. Their pipeline currently includes four drug candidates developed through AI models aimed at accelerating discovery. The next major event for the group is Yu Haoyu’s presentation at the Free Energy Workshop, scheduled for May 4 in Barcelona [1].
