As 2025 draws to a close, Delta4 reflects on a remarkable year of scientific achievement, strategic partnerships, and technological advancement. From securing national recognition to publishing cutting-edge research and advancing major EU initiatives, Delta4 has demonstrated that AI-powered drug discovery, grounded in rigorous computational biology, is not only possible but scalable and impactful.
“2025 has been a year of tremendous progress across all dimensions of our work. From the successful completion of our FFG-funded Delta4 Tech project to our expanding role in landmark European collaborations like PICKED and PROMOTE, we’ve built real momentum. Our publications this year showcase the depth of our computational and network-based drug discovery capabilities. As we look ahead to 2026, I’m proud of what the team has accomplished and excited about the new opportunities emerging, including several grant submissions that will allow us to further integrate our techbio platform into increasingly data-driven biology research. The future is very promising.”
Kurt Herpel
CEO
Delta4 Tech Project: Mission Accomplished
This year marked the successful completion of a Delta4 Tech project to advance computational approaches for drug repositioning and combination prediction, funded by the Austrian Research Promotion Agency (FFG). This initiative strengthened Delta4’s technological foundation and enhanced the capabilities of Hyper-C, our proprietary AI-driven computational drug discovery platform. Among the outcomes, Delta4 significantly enhanced its computational systems biology workflows to generate detailed molecular models of disease pathobiology and drug mechanisms of action across more than 9,000 human diseases and therapeutic compounds.
The project enabled Delta4 to further refine its approach to drug indication expansion, improve mechanistic modeling, and expand its capacity to identify novel therapeutic opportunities for complex and rare diseases.
The completion of the project solidifies our position as a leader in applying computational and systems biology methods to real-world drug discovery challenges.
FFG Success Story: National Recognition for Delta4’s Impact
Delta4 was proudly featured as an FFG Success Story, recognizing the company’s contributions to advancing personalized medicine through the PICKED (Personalized Medicine in Chronic Kidney Disease) project. This distinction highlights Delta4’s unique ability to bridge computational modeling and clinical relevance, leveraging big data and AI to improve diagnosis, prognosis, and treatment for patients transitioning from acute kidney injury (AKI) to chronic kidney disease (CKD).
The FFG feature underscores how Delta4, as a small but highly capable techbio enterprise, leverages European funding mechanisms to drive innovation, foster cross-border collaboration, and address unmet medical needs.
Scientific Publications: Advancing the Field
Delta4’s research output in 2025 reflects the company’s commitment to scientific rigor and innovation. The team published multiple peer-reviewed articles advancing computational drug repositioning and proteomics:
1. Computational Drug Repositioning Approaches for CKD and CVD
Published in PROTEOMICS, this comprehensive review examines computational strategies for identifying new therapeutic applications for existing drugs in both chronic kidney disease and cardiovascular disease—two closely interconnected conditions. The article emphasizes network-based methods and discusses how AI-driven platforms like Hyper-C can accelerate the discovery of mechanistically sound drug-disease matches across these related therapeutic areas. This work highlights Delta4’s expertise in addressing complex cardiorenal syndromes through computational drug repositioning.
2. Computational Modeling and Regulatory Pathways for Drug Combinations
This comprehensive review, published in Drug Discovery Today, explores both the opportunities and challenges of developing drug combinations. Co-authored by Delta4 team members Lucas Fillinger and Samuel Walter, along with Paul Perco and collaborators from the Medical University of Vienna, the paper discusses network-based computational methods for identifying synergistic drug pairs and navigating the complex regulatory landscape of fixed-dose combinations (FDCs). The work highlights Delta4’s expertise in applying computational biology to multi-drug therapeutic strategies.
3. Omics-Driven Machine Learning for Cost-Effective Biomarker Discovery
Delta4 team members Matthias Ley and Paul Perco contributed to this technical review on how machine learning and omics approaches can accelerate cost-effective biomarker discovery. The work exemplifies that Delta4 is not only committed to precision medicine but also sees the path forward by leveraging machine learning (ML) and multi-omics datasets.
These publications not only advance scientific knowledge but also demonstrate Delta4’s capacity to integrate computational insights with clinical and experimental data, a critical requirement for translating discoveries into applied therapies.
PICKED & PROMOTE: Advancing European Health Research
Delta4’s participation in two major EU Horizon Europe MSCA Doctoral Network projects, PICKED and PROMOTE, continued to expand in 2025, strengthening the company’s role in addressing critical health challenges.
PICKED (PersonalIzed medicine in Chronic KidnEy Disease) brings together leading European institutions to improve early detection, risk prediction, and personalized treatment for CKD. Delta4 uses its Hyper-C platform to model disease progression from AKI to CKD, identify therapeutic targets, and support drug repurposing efforts. The project illustrates how computational biology can drive personalized medicine by integrating large-scale omics data with mechanistic modeling.
PROMOTE (PRostate cancer OMics Oriented inTErvention) focuses on leveraging omics and AI to improve the clinical management of prostate cancer. Delta4 contributes by applying computational drug repositioning methods to identify novel treatment options for advanced and metastatic prostate cancer, a disease area characterized by both overtreatment in early stages and limited options for late-stage patients.
Together, these projects reflect Delta4’s tangible impact within the European research landscape and its effectiveness in collaborating with academic as well as clinical partners.
Looking Ahead: Data-Driven Biology and the Techbio Revolution
As PICKED and PROMOTE progress, Delta4 has been actively preparing new grant submissions across various therapeutic indications. A key theme emerging in 2025 is the increasing recognition that the techbio component is becoming indispensable to modern biology research. As experimental techniques generate ever-larger datasets, from genomics and proteomics to imaging and clinical data, nearly every research consortium now requires data scientists capable of handling, integrating, and extracting insights from massive amounts of information.
Delta4 is embracing this shift by applying the FAIR Principles (Findable, Accessible, Interoperable, Reusable) to ensure data is managed responsibly and can be leveraged for maximum scientific and clinical impact. By combining computational expertise with a commitment to open science, Delta4 is positioning itself as a critical partner for data-driven biomedical research.
Building a Successful 2026
2025 has been a year of achievement and growth for Delta4. The successful completion of the Delta4 Tech Project, recognition as an FFG Success Story, impactful scientific publications, and continued leadership in PICKED and PROMOTE all reflect the company’s commitment to advancing drug discovery through computational innovation. In parallel, Delta4 further strengthened its pharma service activities, supporting indication expansion and asset prioritization projects through data-driven, in-silico analyses.
As Delta4 looks toward 2026, the momentum built this year will fuel new opportunities. With a growing portfolio of pharma collaborations—spanning both collaborative research and indication expansion initiatives—several grant submissions underway, and an expanding role in data-driven biology, Delta4 is set to make an even greater impact in the years ahead.
