Recursion Pharmaceuticals' AI-Discovered Cancer Treatment Receives FDA Clearance for Phase 1 Trial

Key Insights

• Recursion Pharmaceuticals' REC-1245, an AI-discovered drug candidate, has been cleared by the FDA for a Phase 1 clinical trial targeting solid tumors and lymphoma.
• The trial, set to begin in Q4 2024, will evaluate REC-1245's efficacy in targeting RBM39, a protein similar to CDK12, offering a potential treatment for advanced cancers.
• Recursion's AI-driven platform identified the novel target and drug candidate in under 18 months, showcasing the potential of AI in accelerating drug discovery.

Recursion Pharmaceuticals has achieved a significant milestone with its AI-enabled drug discovery platform. The FDA has cleared the company's investigational new drug (IND) application for REC-1245, an experimental treatment for solid tumors and lymphoma. This marks a crucial step forward in leveraging artificial intelligence to expedite the development of novel cancer therapies.

The Phase 1 clinical trial for REC-1245 is scheduled to commence in the fourth quarter of 2024, with preliminary data expected by the end of 2025. The drug candidate targets RBM39, a protein with similarities to CDK12, aiming to provide a new therapeutic option for patients with difficult-to-treat advanced cancers. Recursion estimates the potential market size for this treatment to be over 100,000 patients across the U.S. and Europe.

AI-Driven Drug Discovery

According to a CNBC report, Recursion was able to use its artificial intelligence-enabled drug discovery platform to identify an area of biology to target for the treatment of solid tumors and lymphoma, match it with a drug candidate and move all the way to gaining regulatory approval to begin studies in less than 18 months.

Chris Gibson, co-founder and CEO of Recursion, highlighted the speed and efficiency of their AI platform, stating, "I think what’s really exciting about this particular program of Recursion is that this small molecule and novel target came out from essentially a Google-search equivalent, from this giant map of biology that we’ve already built."

Strategic Partnerships and Future Plans

Recursion has established collaborations with major pharmaceutical companies like Bayer and Sanofi, involving upfront payments, milestone-based payments, and royalties on future revenue. The partnership with Bayer, for instance, includes potential payments of $1.5 billion in addition to royalties for its oncology programs.

Furthermore, Recursion is in the process of merging with Exscientia, another AI-based drug discovery company. This merger, expected to be finalized in the first half of 2025, will further strengthen Recursion's position in the AI-driven drug development landscape.