Flagship Pioneering Merges Three Biotechs Into AI Drug Discovery Startup Etcelera Therapeutics

Flagship Pioneering has combined three portfolio companies — Etiome, Cellarity and Empress Therapeutics — into a new venture, Etcelera Therapeutics, the startup creator announced Thursday. The company pairs artificial intelligence with drug discovery tools to predict which experimental medicines may succeed in clinical trials. Etcelera is led by Adrian "Ad" Rawcliffe, former CEO of Adaptimmune and a GSK veteran. The three predecessor companies had raised $374 million in venture capital prior to the merger, which Rawcliffe said will help fund the combined entity. No new funding was announced at launch. The startup will pursue medicines for hematological conditions, immune diseases and metabolic-fibrotic disorders, beginning with programs in myelofibrosis and essential thrombocythemia. It retains a 2022 partnership between Novo and Cellarity targeting small molecule treatment for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis, and is negotiating a second alliance with an unnamed large pharmaceutical firm. Flagship will move a Cellarity-discovered oral sickle cell disease drug into a separate standalone company.