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A series exploring how Innovate BC-supported projects are helping organizations solve real-world challenges through made-in-B.C. innovation.
3C Therapeutics is developing next-generation cancer therapies and exploring new ways to accelerate the drug discovery process. Its proprietary TriCore platform is a Degrader-Antibody Conjugate (DAC) system that uses antibodies to deliver protein-degrading payloads selectively to targeted cancer cells.
Through an Integrated Marketplace project, the Vancouver-based company is partnering with Variational AI to evaluate how generative AI can support the discovery of new cancer treatments, aiming to improve the efficiency of early-stage research and accelerate the path to clinical development.
Developed by the Government of British Columbia with support from the Government of Canada through PacifiCan, the Integrated Marketplace is delivered by Innovate BC and is designed to help organizations test, deploy, and scale made-in-B.C. innovation while reducing the financial risks associated with technology adoption. By supporting collaborative innovation projects between solution adopters, representing key provincial sectors, and B.C. innovators, the program supports the success and growth of its participants while helping address priority opportunities related to productivity, decarbonization, and safety.
Innovate BC’s Executive Director of Program Strategy and Delivery, Sheila Schindel, spoke with Dan Wattier, 3C Therapeutics’ CEO, about the challenges of identifying new therapeutic candidates, the opportunities presented by generative AI, and how collaborative projects can help advance life sciences research and commercialization.
Discovering new therapeutic candidates can be a lengthy and resource-intensive process. What are some of the biggest challenges your team was facing when identifying and developing drug candidates, and why was addressing those important?
DW: Developing these advanced treatments is incredibly complex because they combine antibody-based delivery with precise molecular design. Our biggest challenge was the sheer amount of time it takes to physically create and test new compounds in the laboratory. This slow pace severely limited the number of potential therapies we could realistically explore. Overcoming this bottleneck was crucial. We needed a way to rapidly screen thousands of possibilities computationally before starting in the lab. This acceleration is essential to target cancer-driving proteins that conventional therapies miss.
AI adoption in highly specialized fields like drug discovery can come with unique considerations. What led your team to explore generative AI as part of your drug discovery strategy?
DW: We wanted to pursue complex cancer targets faster and across a much wider chemical space than traditional methods allow. Generative artificial intelligence gives us a way to generate and rank many candidate molecules before committing to lab work. By adopting Variational AI and their Enki platform, we can rapidly design novel ligands specifically optimized for our proprietary TriCore platform. This technology helps us focus laboratory time on the most promising designs from the outset.
Looking ahead, what would success look like for this project, and what are you hoping to learn through the collaboration with Variational AI?
DW: Success means taking a focused set of AI-generated ligand candidates, integrating them into our TriCore platform, and selecting a highly viable lead DAC candidate for further development. We are eager to learn how well these AI-designed ligands retain the potency and selectivity we need once they are synthesized and built into the TriCore platform. Ultimately, we hope to prove that artificial intelligence can significantly shorten the path from initial concept to laboratory-validated lead candidates.
What role did the Integrated Marketplace play in helping 3C Therapeutics explore this collaboration with Variational AI, and what value do you see in partnerships like this for strengthening British Columbia’s life sciences sector?
DW: The Integrated Marketplace made this exact collaboration possible. Adopting cutting-edge technology always carries inherent financial risks, and this program provides the critical support needed to test these innovations in an active drug-discovery program. These partnerships are incredibly valuable because they connect local solution providers with adopters, in our case a Vancouver AI company and a Vancouver therapeutics company, keeping the talent and development within the province. It positions British Columbia as a true leader in precision oncology and next-generation therapeutics, and, ultimately, aims to bring new treatments to patients who have few options today.
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How 3C Therapeutics Is Applying AI to Accelerate Drug Discovery was first posted on August 10, 2026 at 5:00 am.
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