Drug Target Review – October 2025
Nature’s pharmacy has yielded half of today’s medicines, yet most of its potential remains untapped. AI is now changing how quickly new therapies can be found.
It’s often said that nature makes the best medicines and history supports that claim. From penicillin and paclitaxel to cholesterol-lowering statins, about half of all drugs introduced into the clinic have come from natural sources.
Yet pharmaceutical companies, once deeply invested in the field, have largely abandoned drug discovery from nature, viewing it as too slow and expensive. Instead, their efforts have shifted to synthetic libraries, which are easier to produce, modify and screen.
But now, Canadian startup Kapoose Creek Bio, is leading a return to nature’s pharmacy, using artificial intelligence (AI), machine learning and multiomic technologies to make the process faster and more predictable.
