Manchester scientists demonstrate AI-designed enzyme for drug synthesis

Manchester researchers working with the Institute for Protein Design demonstrated AI-designed enzymes for a key chemical reaction involved in making lenacapavir. Four of 67 enzyme designs tested showed clear activity, with the best converting 79% of the starting amine into the desired product — a proof of concept for tackling challenging steps in drug synthesis. Across computational benchmarks, RFD4-Proteina achieved design success rates five to ten times higher than previous models and generated protein candidates five to ten times faster.