Advancing Cancer Treatment
Therapeutics Discovery
Tim Heffernan, Ph.D.
Vice President and Division Head
Patient-Guided Drug Discovery and Development
At MD Anderson, we integrated industry-scale drug development capabilities and expertise with our unique research ecosystem to create the Therapeutics Discovery division.
Working with unparalleled proximity to patients and an unmatched wealth of clinical expertise, Therapeutics Discovery eliminates the bottlenecks that hamper traditional drug development to create and deliver life-saving transformational medicines to patients quickly. Our seamless integration enables us to bring therapies from concept to clinical trial in ways Only Possible Here.
We work across all classes of therapeutics, including small molecule drugs, protein therapeutics cellular therapies and radiopharmaceuticals, to effectively address unmet needs in oncology. Our dedicated team of scientists, clinicians, drug developers and data experts to develop new therapies inspired by the needs of patients and guided by the expertise of the institution’s world-renowned physicians.
Therapeutics Discovery doesn’t bring the “bench to bedside.” We work with the bench at the bedside to drive the future of impactful new therapies.
Therapeutics Pipeline
We have leveraged our unique approach to design and advance novel therapies to address unmet needs for patients.
Learn more about our pipeline
Therapeutics Discovery is more than a division — it’s a launchpad for innovation. Our team fuses academic brilliance with industrial muscle to redefine the frontier of transformative drug development, turning bold ideas into breakthrough therapies.
In the News
Stay up to date on our new collaborations and recent progress.
‘Drug hunter’ deploys AI to accelerate path to new therapies
When Tim Heffernan, Ph.D., arrived at MD Anderson in 2011, he saw an opportunity to fundamentally change how cancer drugs are developed. With experience spanning academia and the biopharmaceutical sector, he recognized that the traditional model — years of siloed trial and error — needed transformation.
Heffernan, a self-described “drug hunter,” now leads this change as vice president and head, Oncology Research and Development.
“What once took years now takes months,” Heffernan says. “Artificial Intelligence (AI) algorithms can predict protein structure, screen millions of compounds and suggest novel drug designs, all before a single experiment runs in the lab.”
Building an integrated approach
Heffernan’s strategy uniquely integrates pharmaceutical research and development with cutting-edge discovery science and clinical expertise — a rare combination. Through MD Anderson’s Therapeutics Discovery division, his team deploys AI algorithms, protein structure prediction models and computational drug design tools to address high unmet medical needs.
In 2025, Heffernan forged partnerships with biotechnology leaders in AI drug discovery, integrating generative AI and deep learning into MD Anderson’s data ecosystem. These collaborations have exemplified the difference between AI-informed drug design versus traditional approaches. The first AI-designed programs have accelerated timelines with nomination of new drug candidates in 2026, followed by testing in clinical trials at MD Anderson in early 2027.
“The pace has been truly inspiring,” Heffernan says. “Programs are achieving critical milestones once thought unattainable.”
A vision beyond drug discovery
For Heffernan, AI's promise extends beyond drug discovery. He envisions these technologies transforming every stage of patient care, from detection and diagnosis to treatment selection and monitoring.
The work reveals Heffernan’s philosophy: interrogate biology at extraordinary resolution to reveal molecular patterns and therapeutic vulnerabilities, then leverage AI-informed drug design to accelerate discovery and expand treatment options. As AI platforms become increasingly democratized, his team positions MD Anderson at the forefront of AI-informed cancer care.
Mission meeting moment
What drives Heffernan isn’t simply technology; it’s people.
“For every story of success, I am even more inspired to innovate for patients still waiting for solutions,” Heffernan says. “Our mission will not be complete until every patient who walks through the doors of MD Anderson has access to an effective therapeutic option.”
Having worked across multiple sectors spanning decades, Heffernan views this time as transformative in the pursuit of Making Cancer History®. “There has never been a better time to be a drug hunter,” he says.
MD Anderson and Sibylla Biotech announce strategic collaboration to discover and develop small-molecule protein degraders
The University of Texas MD Anderson Cancer Center and Sibylla Biotech today announced a strategic collaboration agreement to discover and develop novel small-molecule cancer therapies known as folding interfering degraders (FIDs), which disrupt the proper folding of target proteins and lead to their degradation.
Under the agreement, Sibylla and MD Anderson will jointly conduct discovery and development work from target identification through drug candidate nomination on selected proteins, with the potential to continue further pre-clinical and clinical development. The collaboration brings together Sibylla’s Pharmacological Protein Inactivation by Folding Intermediates Targeting (PPI-FIT) technology with the drug development expertise and capabilities of MD Anderson’s Therapeutics Discovery division.
“The Sibylla team is committed to expanding the applications of our PPI-FIT technology and FIDs to provide new treatment options for hard-to-treat indications. This collaboration builds upon the progress we have achieved to date and the applicability of our technology and know-how,” said Lidia Pieri, PhD, co-founder and chief executive officer of Sibylla Biotech. “We value the opportunity to work with MD Anderson’s team of drug development experts in order to foster our vision of treating patients with high unmet medical need.”
Sibylla’s proprietary PPI-FIT technology is used to discover and develop FIDs, small molecules that induce the degradation of target proteins by interfering with the folding pathway. Notably, PPI-FIT can be applied to target proteins currently considered “undruggable” due to the absence of suitable pockets in their native state.
“Folding interfering degraders represent an exciting new modality to target key cancer drivers, and we look forward to opportunities to advance compelling candidates forward as novel therapeutic options,” said Tim Heffernan, Ph.D., vice president and head of Therapeutics Discovery at MD Anderson. “By aligning Sibylla’s innovative PPI-FIT technology with our drug development engine, we hope to create impactful new medicines that will expand options for patients in need of more effective therapies.”
By uniting scientists, clinicians and drug development experts together within MD Anderson, the institution’s Therapeutics Discovery division is designed to eliminate the bottlenecks slowing traditional drug discovery. Seamless integration with MD Anderson physicians allows Therapeutics Discovery to develop impactful cancer therapies inspired directly by patient needs and clinical insights.
Once a drug candidate is nominated, Sibylla and MD Anderson may consider further drug development, translational, and clinical activities to advance the candidate for patients in need.
Disclosure
MD Anderson has an institutional conflict of interest with Sibylla and will implement an Institutional Conflict of Interest Management and Monitoring Plan to manage this relationship.