Recursion(RXRX)2024-05-10 02:53Financial Data and Key Metrics - The company ended Q1 with nearly $300 million in cash, providing a robust runway for future milestones [13] Business Line Data and Key Metrics - The company has multiple Phase 2 trial starts and readouts planned for 2024 and the next 18 months, with a roughly quarterly cadence [11] - The company has identified exciting targets in non-small cell lung cancer through its collaboration with Tempus and is integrating larger chunks of their data for broader pan-cancer causal AI models [12] - The company has sequenced its one millionth transcriptome and is leveraging this data to build a comprehensive transcriptomic map [6] Market Data and Key Metrics - The company is expanding internationally with the opening of a London office, aiming to tap into the computational biology talent pool in the UK [20][26] - The company has a strong presence in Salt Lake City, Toronto, Montreal, and San Jose, with plans for further international growth in the intermediate to long term [58][59] Company Strategy and Industry Competition - The company is focused on building a TechBio platform that integrates multiple layers of omics data, including phenomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and enviromics, to drive drug discovery [6][43][44] - The company is leveraging active learning to optimize experimentation, achieving 80% of the information value with only 40% of the experiments [7] - The company has built a supercomputer, BioHive 2, in partnership with NVIDIA, which is one of the fastest in biopharma, enhancing its computational capabilities [9][45][46] - The company is collaborating with Roche-Genentech, Bayer, and Helix, with potential for additional partnerships in non-oncology areas like cardiovascular and metabolism [5][41][49][50] Management Commentary on Operating Environment and Future Outlook - The company believes it is uniquely positioned to lead the TechBio evolution, with a robust pipeline, platform, and team [34][39] - The company expects to demonstrate the potential of its drug discovery philosophy through a variety of catalysts in the coming quarters and years [48] - The company is moving towards autonomous discovery, where AI agents will automatically hypothesize about biology and prioritize experimentation for faster impact on patients [51] Other Important Information - The company has hired Najat Khan, a former J&J executive, as Chief R&D Officer and Chief Commercial Officer, bringing extensive experience in drug discovery and digital tools [10] - The company has announced a collaboration with Helix to access large-scale population genomics and transcriptomics data, which will be integrated with its internal data for broader disease understanding [5][42] - The company is exploring the use of organoids and steroids to improve translation and predictive ADME Tox at scale, and is working on automated synthesis to accelerate small molecule development [52] Summary of Q&A Session Question: What does success look like for upcoming Phase 2 trial readouts? - Success will be measured by meaningful biological changes that benefit patients, with next steps including aggressive pursuit of moving medicines to patients, potentially moving to Phase 3 trials or discussions about accelerated approval [14][15][16] Question: How significant is the Phase 2 readout for REC-994 in validating the platform? - The Phase 2 readout for REC-994 is a key milestone, but the company emphasizes that each program is technically uncorrelated, with successes and failures expected across the pipeline [55][56] Question: What success has been achieved with Tempus data? - The company has already identified a novel opportunity in non-small cell lung cancer using Tempus data and is refining its AI models to integrate this data with proprietary data for target identification [19][57] Question: Why is the company opening a London office? - The London office is aimed at accelerating computational biology talent acquisition, leveraging the UK's strong training in data science and biology [20][26][58] Question: How does the company view competition from Xaira? - The company welcomes competition and collaboration, believing that the primary bottleneck in TechBio is data, and that companies with high-quality datasets will make rapid progress [27][60] Question: Will the company help labs working on ultra-rare diseases like Batten disease? - The company is open to working with patient groups and labs on rare diseases, leveraging its biological maps to advance programs, though immediate solutions may not be available [21][28][61] Question: What are the next big pieces needed for faster drug discovery? - The company believes that deep, broad datasets are critical for understanding biology and accelerating drug discovery, with a focus on integrating multiple omics layers and technologies [29][62][63]