MINIMUM Bio is a Sydney-based drug-target discovery and proximity-inducing therapeutics company. Our proprietary Mercurious® platform uses phage-displayed cDNA libraries to identify, with no prior assumptions, which proteins in the human proteome bind any given bioactive compound. This agnostic, proteome-wide approach generates novel drug-target pairs faster and at lower cost than any competing technology — enabling both internal pipeline development and external partnering across oncology, immunology, and longevity.

Our compound engine is built around the rapamycin scaffold. Rapamycin and its analogs (rapalogs) act as molecular glues, recruiting the abundant intracellular chaperone FKBP12 into proximity with a target protein to block its function — a clinically validated proximity-inducing mechanism. We are engineering the rapamycin polyketide synthase (PKS) to generate structural diversity across this scaffold, creating a growing library of rapalogs with tunable binding properties.

Pipeline

Oncology: Lead rapalog MB2052 has been confirmed to recruit FKBP12 to EP300, a master transcriptional co-activator dysregulated across multiple cancers and among the most compelling undruggable targets in oncology. Program status: early validation.

Immunology: Rapalogs with improved mTORC1 selectivity are being developed as next-generation immunosuppressants with reduced metabolic liability versus rapamycin and FK506. A separate first-in-class rapalog recruits an undisclosed transcription factor to FKBP12, representing a novel immunomodulatory mechanism with no current clinical precedent. Program status: discovery.

Longevity: mTORC1-selective rapalogs targeting healthspan extension with a reduced chronic side-effect profile relative to rapamycin. Program status: discovery.

Why work with us

Why Partner With MINIMUM Bio

Drug target identification remains one of the most expensive, time-consuming, and failure-prone steps in pharmaceutical R&D. Existing technologies each carry significant limitations: MS-based pulldowns struggle with low-abundance and transient interactions; genome-wide CRISPR and shRNA screens are slow, costly, and conflate direct targets with cascade effects; structural approaches require prior knowledge of binding pockets that often don't exist. These blind spots are responsible for a significant proportion of late-stage pipeline failures — compounds with real biological activity but uncharacterised mechanisms that eventually derail development.

Mercurious® was purpose-built to eliminate these blind spots. Adapted from antibody discovery, the platform is fast — returning primary target identification data in as little as one week — agnostic to compound class, and iterative, allowing progressive refinement of target hypotheses across multiple biopanning rounds. It works equally well for small molecules, biologics, and molecular glues, and is uniquely suited to the proximity-inducing modality that is rapidly becoming the most active frontier in drug discovery.

For large pharma and biotech, this creates four concrete partnering opportunities:

Unblock stalled pipelines. If a compound shows compelling phenotypic activity but target identity is unclear or contested, Mercurious can resolve it rapidly and cost-effectively — turning an asset with mechanism-of-action risk into a developable candidate.

Find new targets. Applied to any proprietary compound collection, Mercurious can identify unexpected binding partners — surfacing new indications, combination opportunities, and first-in-class target hypotheses from chemistry you already own.

Accelerate molecular glue programs. The molecular glue field is bottlenecked by target identification: most programs rely on serendipitous discovery or rational design against known structural data. Mercurious provides the missing systematic screen — identifying which proteins a given glue scaffold productively recruits, and which structural modifications shift that selectivity.

Access the FKBP·rapalog target space. As our PKS engineering program matures, MINIMUM Bio will hold a growing library of structurally diverse FKBPs-recruiting rapalogs with characterised target profiles across the proteome. For partners with interest in proximity-inducing therapeutics — particularly in oncology, immunology, or neurodegeneration — this represents a unique, licensable asset that cannot be replicated by synthetic chemistry programmes operating at conventional scale.

We are actively seeking co-development agreements, target discovery service partnerships, and compound library access deals. Early partners gain preferred access to pipeline data and co-invention rights on targets identified within agreed therapeutic areas.