Recursion, a leading clinical stage TechBio company decoding biology to industrialize drug discovery, today announced it has signed an agreement with Bayer AG to in-license a new chemical entity that emerged from the companies’ fibrosis research collaboration.
The compound represents a novel approach to treating fibrotic diseases with compelling early data suggesting the potential to reverse disease-related fibrotic processes, including immuno-mesenchymal dysfunction.
“Since initiating our research collaboration with Bayer in 2020, we have worked diligently to apply the power of the Recursion OS to identify and advance potential candidates in challenging areas of disease biology,” said Chris Gibson, Ph.D., Co-founder and CEO of Recursion. “We are excited to bring this asset into our internal pipeline and accelerate the compelling science behind this program while our research collaboration with Bayer focuses on precision oncology.”
Recursion applied phenotypic screening of human cells to identify small molecules that reverse the phenotypic features of disease-state fibrocyte cells into those of healthy-state cells. Leveraging the power of Recursion’s Maps of Biology and Chemistry revealed a relationship between small molecule hits and a novel target that could impact fibrotic diseases. The most promising small molecule hits were confirmed as potent inhibitors of this novel target in validation experiments, and lead optimization studies are currently ongoing.
Fibrotic diseases are a significant cause of morbidity and mortality worldwide with high unmet need for patients. One of the biggest challenges in the treatment of fibrotic diseases is the underlying complex biology and the associated difficulty in discovering disease-modifying drug targets. Recursion’s technology is uniquely suited to accelerate discoveries in these and other complex areas of disease biology.
