SOLANA BEACH, Calif., April 28, 2026 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- Artelo Biosciences, Inc. (Nasdaq: ARTL), a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company focused on modulating lipid-signaling pathways to develop treatments for people living with cancer, pain, dermatological, or neurological conditions, today announced details of a strategic partnership with BioAI company ScienceMachine to accelerate the development of its fatty acid-binding protein 5 (FABP5) inhibitor platform. ScienceMachine’s platform, which leverages cutting-edge AI agent technology, is built to interrogate large biological datasets in a fraction of the time and cost of traditional methods.
The partnership is harnessing ScienceMachine’s proprietary AI technology to analyze Artelo’s large internal FABP datasets and identify novel biological insights, including new mechanisms and therapeutic opportunities for FABP5 inhibitors, particularly ART26.12, the Company’s first FABP5 inhibitor to begin clinical studies. By using data from the previously reported Phase 1 single ascending dose study (ART26.12-100), ScienceMachine has been instrumental in identifying potential proteins indicative of FABP5 target engagement in ART26.12-treated healthy volunteers.
“This collaboration expands our pipeline potential and enhances our R&D precision,” said Andrew Yates, Ph.D., Senior Vice President and Chief Scientific Officer at Artelo. “We believe this partnership has the potential to accelerate the identification of novel mechanisms of action and clinical biomarkers, as well as prioritizing follow-on compounds from our FABP5 library with greater confidence and speed. In short, it’s a powerful force multiplier for our drug development strategy, enabling smarter investment of resources and potentially shortening our path to value creation.”
Since the start of the collaboration in 2025, the partnership has used the power of machine learning to interrogate disease-model multi-omic data. These efforts have revealed latent biological networks associated with disease severity and FABP signaling, while providing mechanistic insight into these novel targets. Preliminary results, conducted in a psoriasis model, are slated for publication later this year. In addition, the collaboration identified novel protein and lipid signatures correlated with ART26.12’s dose responsive analgesic effect. These results are providing insight into the design of future research with ART26.12 and other FABP inhibitors from Artelo’s library.
“Our work with Artelo’s data shows how AI agents can augment modern drug discovery and development,” said Lorenzo Sani, CEO and co-founder of ScienceMachine. “Together with Artelo, we are turning complex biological datasets into testable hypotheses that may help inform biomarker strategy, mechanism-of-action work, and future FABP5 inhibitor development.”
Artelo Biosciences is the first and only company to have brought a selective FABP5 inhibitor as a drug candidate into human studies targeting an indication in neuropathic pain. By combining cutting-edge science with modern AI tools, Artelo expects to broaden its understanding of the potential applications of functional lipidomics in general, and FABP5 inhibition in particular.
About Artelo Biosciences
Artelo Biosciences, Inc. is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company dedicated to the development and commercialization of proprietary therapeutics that modulate lipid-signaling pathways, with a diversified pipeline addressing significant unmet needs in anorexia, cancer, anxiety, dermatologic conditions, pain, and inflammation. Led by an experienced executive team collaborating with world-class researchers and technology partners, Artelo applies rigorous scientific, regulatory, commercial, and treasury management practices, including digital assets, to maximize stakeholder value. More information is available at www.artelobio.com and X: @ArteloBio.
About ART26.12
ART26.12, Artelo’s lead fatty acid-binding protein 5 (FABP5) inhibitor, is under development as a novel, peripherally acting, non-opioid, non-steroidal analgesic, initially for the treatment of chemotherapy-induced peripheral neuropathy. Human studies with ART26.12 have demonstrated a favorable safety profile with no serious adverse events, as well as predictable, linear pharmacokinetics and dosing flexibility in both fed and fasted states. FABPs are a family of intracellular proteins that chaperone lipids important to normal cellular function. In addition to ART26.12, Artelo’s extensive library of small molecule inhibitors of FABPs has shown therapeutic promise for the treatment of certain cancers, neuropathic and nociceptive pain, psoriasis, and anxiety disorders.
About ScienceMachine
ScienceMachine is an AI platform for biomedical R&D. Its agents automate the work that slows down life sciences teams — processing raw data from the lab, running complex analyses, reviewing the literature, and generating final reports — taking projects end-to-end without leaving the loop. Backed by deep integrations, a curated datalake of biological datasets, and enterprise-grade security, ScienceMachine helps research organizations deliver more discoveries, faster, and at lower cost. Learn more at sciencemachine.ai
Forward-Looking Statements
This press release contains certain forward-looking statements within the meaning of Section 27A of the Securities Act of 1933 and Section 21E of the Securities Exchange Act of 1934 and Private Securities Litigation Reform Act, as amended, including those relating to the Company’s product development, clinical and regulatory timelines, market opportunity, competitive position, possible or assumed future results of operations, business strategies, potential growth opportunities and other statement that are predictive in nature. These forward-looking statements are based on current expectations, estimates, forecasts and projections about the industry and markets in which we operate and management’s current beliefs and assumptions. These statements may be identified by the use of forward-looking expressions, including, but not limited to, “expect,” “anticipate,” “intend,” “plan,” “believe,” “estimate,” “potential,” “predict,” “project,” “should,” “would” and similar expressions and the negatives of those terms. These statements relate to future events or our financial performance and involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties, and other factors which may cause actual results, performance or achievements to be materially different from any future results, performance or achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements. Such factors include those set forth in the Company’s filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including our ability to raise additional capital in the future. Prospective investors are cautioned not to place undue reliance on such forward-looking statements, which speak only as of the date of this press release. The Company undertakes no obligation to publicly update any forward-looking statement, whether as a result of new information, future events or otherwise, except to the extent required by applicable securities laws.
Investor Relations Contact:
Crescendo Communications, LLC
Tel: 212-671-1020
Email: ARTL@crescendo-ir.com
