Recursion (merged with Exscientia)
Overview
Recursion Pharmaceuticals (NASDAQ: RXRX) is a US TechBio company using AI and automation to transform drug discovery. Its platform integrates biology, chemistry, automation, data science, and engineering to run experiments far faster and broader than traditional drug discovery. With Exscientia fully integrated as a subsidiary, the company is vertically integrated across compound design, synthesis, and phenotypic screening.
Key Features
Recursion OS
The core platform. AI analyzes biological and chemical data from large-scale automated experiments to discover new therapeutic targets and drug candidates. It draws on roughly 65 petabytes of proprietary data spanning phenomics, transcriptomics, InVivomics, proteomics, ADME, and de-identified patient data.
Phenomics
AI detects phenotype changes in cell images to capture drug effects in millions of dimensions.
Large-Scale Automation
Automated labs scale to as many as 2.2 million experiments per week, generating up to 16.2 million multi-timepoint brightfield images.
Compute
BioHive-2, built on 576 NVIDIA H100 GPUs, trains in-house foundation models including Phenom-2, MolPhenix, and MolGPS.
Pipeline
Wholly owned and partnered programs span oncology, rare disease, neuroscience, and immunology. REC-4881, a MEK1/2 inhibitor for familial adenomatous polyposis, is in FDA discussions on a registrational path, with Phase 2 TUPELO data scheduled for November 2026. REC-7735, an AI-designed PI3Kα H1047R inhibitor, has IND clearance and is expected to enter Phase 1/2 in select solid tumors in the second half of 2026.
Key Partnerships
Collaborations with Roche, Genentech, Sanofi, Bayer, and Merck KGaA have generated more than $500 million in cumulative upfront and milestone payments.
- Roche / Genentech — neuroscience and oncology ($216M received to date; the first neuroscience target has advanced into a joint early discovery program, built on whole-genome CRISPR knockout maps in iPSC-derived neuronal cells, with up to 40 small-molecule programs in scope.)
- Sanofi — up to 15 programs in oncology and immunology ($134M received to date)
- Bayer — precision oncology
- NVIDIA — AI infrastructure
Public Company
Recursion is NASDAQ-listed (ticker: RXRX). It lowered 2026 cash operating expense guidance to under $375 million, tightening cost control.
Strengths
- ✅ Massive automation (up to 2.2M experiments/week)
- ✅ Phenomics — image-based drug effect analysis
- ✅ 65-petabyte proprietary biological and chemical dataset
- ✅ $500M+ received from Roche/Genentech, Sanofi, and Bayer partnerships
- ✅ Exscientia integration for end-to-end design, synthesis, and evaluation
- ✅ Public company transparency
Weaknesses
- ❌ Pharma-only, irrelevant to general users
- ❌ Long drug discovery timelines (years for trials)
- ❌ Clinical validation of AI-discovered drugs still pending
- ❌ High stock volatility
Official Resources
- Website: https://www.recursion.com
- NASDAQ: RXRX