ISRAEL-US CONNECT: AI-Driven Drug Discovery & Development Biotech Delegation

ISRAEL-US CONNECT: AI-Driven Drug Discovery & Development

November 2-5, 2026

DC, Maryland, Philadelphia, NJ, & NYC

The Israel Economic Mission to the USA is bringing a group of innovative Israeli biotech startups focused on AI-Driven Drug Discovery to the United States in November 2026 to foster strategic partnerships with leading U.S. pharmaceutical and biotech companies, investors, and industry stakeholders. The delegation will showcase Israel’s cutting-edge AI Drug Discovery innovations, advancing drug discovery through artificial intelligence and emerging computational technologies.

The delegation, consisting of six to eight Israeli startups, will highlight technologies addressing key stages and challenges across the drug discovery process. These solutions are designed to accelerate target identification and validation, improve molecular and drug candidate design, enable more efficient screening and lead optimization, uncover novel therapeutic opportunities, and enhance the prediction of efficacy, safety, and patient response - ultimately helping to reduce the time, cost, and risk associated with drug discovery and development.

The delegation is particularly interested in exploring opportunities for strategic R&D partnerships, joint research and validation, pilot projects, co-development, licensing, and other forms of collaboration with U.S. pharmaceutical and biotech companies.

The purpose of the visit is to build the scientific, commercial, and strategic relations that will advance startups’ platform and therapeutic programs through pharma discovery partnerships, research collaboration, platform validation, commercialization support, data partnerships, Co-development agreements, technology licensing, strategic investment, and talent and scientific advisory networks.

Participating startups include (list subject to change):

BioRaptor (https://www.bioraptor.ai)**

Bioprocessing data analytics platform

BioRaptor is an AI-powered bioprocessing data analytics platform that transforms complex, fragmented bioprocess data into actionable insights for process development, optimization, scale-up, and manufacturing. Its platform integrates data from experiments, instruments, and production process to enable cross-run analysis, real-time monitoring, root-cause analysis, and predictive modeling-helping bioprocessing teams accelerate development, improve yields, and reduce process variability.

Stage: R&D / Seed

Evogene (www.evogene.com)**

Generative AI for small-molecule drug discovery 

Evogene is a computational chemistry company developing generative AI technologies for the discovery and optimization of novel small molecules for pharmaceutical and agricultural applications. Its proprietary ChemPass AI™ platform uses generative AI and a foundation model trained on more than 38 billion molecular structures to design novel, synthesizable compounds optimized simultaneously across multiple parameters, including potency, selectivity, stability, ADME, toxicity, and drug-like properties. Combining AI-driven molecular design with targeted experimental validation, Evogene works with pharmaceutical and biotech partners while advancing its own proprietary drug-discovery programs. 

Stage: Public / Revenue Growth / | ChemPass AI: mature commercial platform | Drug discovery: Lead Optimization | Estimated TRL 5–6 

Numenos (https://www.numenos.ai) **

Numenos is a techbio company that developed CURE, the world’s first clinic-genomic foundation model for drug discovery and development. CURE successfully predicts which patients will benefit most from an experimental drug without dependence on a pharma company’s proprietary internal data. This breakthrough enables pharma companies to dramatically improve the cost, speed, and success of their clinical trials and to identify novel targets and shelves drugs with the greatest potential for approval.

Stage: R&D / Pre-seed / TRL 4-5

Quris-AI (https://www.quris.ai) **

Quris-AI is an artificial intelligence innovator that is disrupting drug development. Its machine-learning bio-platform better predicts which drug candidates will safely work in humans, avoiding tremendous costs of failed clinical trials. Quris-AI is led by a track-record team of top scientists and strategic investors. Its first AI-based drug is now prepping for clinical testing. 

Stage: R&D / Pre-seed / TRL 5-6

Rhino Health (https://www.rhinofcp.com) **

Federated AI * Data Infrastructure -  enabling secure, privacy-preserving collaboration across distributed healthcare and life sciences data.

Rhino Federated Computing provides privacy-preserving infrastructure that enables healthcare and life sciences organizations to collaborate on AI, analytics, and research using distributed data—without moving sensitive data from where it resides. Its platform enables federated learning, data harmonization, and AI model development across hospitals, biopharma companies, and research institutions while maintaining data privacy, security, and governance. 

Stage: R&D / Series A / TRL 7

SpacePharma (https://www.spacepharma.health) **

Microgravity Drug Discovery & Biotech - autonomous lab-on-a-chip platforms enabling pharmaceutical and biological research in space.

SpacePharma provides fully autonomous, AI-powered pharmaceutical and biological experiments in microgravity - remotely, affordably, and at scale. Its miniaturized lab-on-a-chip platforms operate on the ISS, CubeSats, and private space missions, unlocking the potential of microgravity for drug discovery, protein development, materials innovation, and life science research.

Stage: Initial Revenue / Growth / TRL 7

Starget Pharma (https://www.stargetpharma.com) **

AI-driven peptide radioligand discovery & precision oncology 

Starget Pharma is a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing next-generation Smart Targeted Radioligands (STRs) for precision oncology. Its proprietary AI-driven peptide Backbone Dynamics platform combines computational modeling, peptide engineering, and in-silico design to rapidly discover and optimize radioligand candidates with high affinity, selectivity, stability, and favorable pharmacokinetic properties. Starget’s platform is designed to deliver targeted radioactive payloads directly to tumor cells while minimizing exposure to healthy tissues, with a pipeline spanning multiple hard-to-treat cancers. Its lead SSTR3-targeted theranostic program is advancing through clinical development. 

Stage: Clinical Stage / Series A / Raised $33M / TRL 7

Maccabi Kahn-Sagol-Maccabi Institute for Research & Innovation (KSM)**

KSM is Maccabi Healthcare Services’ research and innovation institute, leveraging one of Israels largest longitudinal healthcare datasets, clinical expertise, and research infrastructure to advance data-driven medicine. KSM collaborate with startups, technology companies, academia, and industry on AI machine learning, genomics, clinical research, and translational medicine, creating opportunities to accelerate the development and validation of new healthcare and therapeutic solutions.