Recursion Pharmaceuticals Highlights AI Drug Platform, FAP Progress at Morgan Stanley Conference

Recursion Pharmaceuticals Highlights AI Drug Platform, FAP Progress at Morgan Stanley Conference

Recursion is positioning itself as an end-to-end, AI-enabled drug discovery platform, expanding into chemistry and clinical development while cutting its pro forma cost base by about 40% after integrating Exscientia. REC-4881, its oral MEK1/2 inhibitor for familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP), showed rapid and durable reductions in gastrointestinal polyp burden in Phase II trials. The company plans to present additional data in November and is discussing a potential registrational pathway with the FDA. Partnerships with Roche/Genentech and Sanofi have generated more than $525 million in upfront payments and milestones, including over $250 million from Roche, while Recursion continues advancing programs in oncology, immunology and other disease areas.

Recursion Pharmaceuticals NASDAQ: RXRX outlined its strategy, clinical pipeline and partnership progress at Morgan Stanley’s Global Healthcare Conference, with CEO and President Najat Khan emphasizing the company’s shift toward an end-to-end, AI-enabled drug discovery and development platform. Khan said the company has changed materially over the past 12 to 18 months, expanding its platform beyond biology into chemistry and clinical development. She said Recursion has also reduced its cost base by about 40% on a pro forma basis following the integration with Exscientia, citing greater use of AI agents, automation and capital prioritization.

“The company has really transformed to a company with differentiated assets powered by an end-to-end AI engine with repeatability,” Khan said.

Focus on novel biology and clinical programs Khan said the growth of China-originated drug innovation reinforces Recursion’s emphasis on discovering novel biology and first-in-class targets. She characterized China’s capabilities as particularly strong in optimizing known biology, while arguing that the next frontier lies in identifying new targets and connecting them to appropriate disease indications.

The company highlighted REC-4881, an oral MEK1/2 inhibitor being developed for familial adenomatous polyposis, or FAP. Khan said the program resulted from Recursion’s biology platform, which screened compounds in cells with APC gene loss, a driver of FAP. The company’s models identified the MEK1/2 inhibitor without beginning with that mechanism as a prior hypothesis, she said. According to Khan, Phase II data showed rapid and durable reductions in polyp burden, including reductions after patients had been off treatment for three months. She said the company observed reductions in both upper and lower gastrointestinal polyps. There are no approved drugs for FAP, and current care involves surveillance and surgery, she said. Recursion plans to present additional Phase II data at the CGA-IGC meeting in early November. Khan said the company is also in active discussions with the FDA regarding a registrational pathway. Its base case centers on progression-free survival-type measures involving clinically meaningful events such as surgery and dysplasia. On safety, Khan said more than 85% of treatment-related adverse events observed to date have been Grade 1 or 2. Dermatitis has been the primary event, along with transient creatine phosphokinase changes. She said Recursion is managing dermatitis proactively and is evaluating intermittent dosing, in addition to its once-daily regimen, given the durability observed off treatment.

REC-1245 and broader pipeline Recursion also discussed R...