EMD Serono Buys PostEra's AI-Designed Oral Fertility Drug Programs
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Boston – September 15, 2026 -- EMD Serono, Inc., the healthcare business of Merck KGaA, Darmstadt, Germany, in the United States and Canada, has acquired two preclinical fertility drug programs from PostEra, a biotech firm built on artificial intelligence-driven small molecule discovery.
PostEra's Proton platform generated oral agonists targeting two hard-to-drug fertility receptors
The acquired programs target the follicle-stimulating hormone receptor (FSHR) and the luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin receptor (LHCGR), both used over two years by PostEra's AI platform Proton to design small molecule candidates for reproductive endocrinology. FSHR agonists were developed for ovarian stimulation in in vitro fertilization (IVF), while LHCGR agonists target male infertility and ovulation triggering in IVF protocols.