Flagship Pioneering has unveiled Expedition Medicines, a new artificial intelligence-focused biotechnology company targeting cancer and immune diseases, backed by a $50 million investment. The startup represents Flagship's latest bet on AI-driven drug discovery, specifically focusing on covalent chemistry to tackle traditionally "undruggable" protein targets.
Revolutionary Approach to Covalent Drug Design
Expedition Medicines is building a platform based on "the rules of covalent chemistry," according to CEO and co-founder Molly Gibson. The company's approach centers on creating purposeful bonds between small molecules and the shallow binding sites of protein targets that existing medicines struggle to access effectively.
"If we're successful in creating generative covalent chemistry, it will almost be a platform of platforms," Gibson explained. "You can think about many different modalities, from inhibitors to degraders and glues, to expanding to different reactive sites."
The biotech distinguishes itself from other covalent drug startups by focusing on specific enzymatic reactions, leveraging a proprietary library of data for training its AI models. This approach is designed to identify new targets and increase the "hit rate" on potential molecules advancing to preclinical studies.
Strategic Partnership with Pfizer
Expedition has already established a multiyear collaboration with Pfizer to explore new therapies for prostate cancer. This partnership was brokered under Flagship's Pioneering Medicines Initiative, announced in 2023, which has facilitated similar disease-specific partnerships between Pfizer and other Flagship companies including ProFound Therapeutics, Quotient Therapeutics, Ampersand Biomedicines, and Montai Therapeutics.
Development Timeline and Platform Potential
The company plans to initiate preclinical studies of its drug candidates next year, marking a rapid progression from platform development to therapeutic application. Noubar Afeyan, Flagship's CEO and co-founder of Expedition, emphasized the transformative potential of the approach: "By harnessing AI and quantum covalent chemistry to rewrite what's possible in drug design, Expedition is transforming these undruggable proteins into tractable targets."
Flagship's Expanding AI Portfolio
Expedition Medicines represents part of Flagship's broader investment in AI-driven biotechnology. In March, the venture capital firm unveiled Lila Sciences, another AI-focused company co-created by Gibson, which raised $200 million in a seed round to partner with other Flagship startups in accelerating early drug research.
The launch of Expedition reflects the growing investor confidence in AI-based drug discovery platforms, with hundreds of millions of dollars flowing into the sector over recent years. Major pharmaceutical companies including Eli Lilly, Takeda Pharmaceutical, and Bristol Myers Squibb have also invested significantly in building datasets for training AI models, underscoring the industry-wide shift toward AI-enhanced drug development.
