Flagship Pioneering Launches AI-Powered Expedition Medicines with $50M Investment
Flagship Pioneering, a prolific company creator in the biotech sector, has unveiled its latest venture into artificial intelligence-driven drug discovery with the launch of Expedition Medicines. The new company, backed by a $50 million investment from Flagship, aims to revolutionize small molecule therapies by targeting previously "undruggable" proteins.
AI-Powered Platform Targets Cancer and Immune Diseases
Expedition Medicines is developing a platform that leverages AI and quantum covalent chemistry to identify novel ways for small molecules to bind to hard-to-drug targets. The company's focus is on cancer and immune diseases, with plans to begin preclinical studies of its drug candidates in 2026.
CEO and co-founder Molly Gibson explained, "If we're successful in creating generative covalent chemistry, it will almost be a platform of platforms. You can think about many different modalities, from inhibitors to degraders and glues, to expanding to different reactive sites."
Pfizer Partnership and Flagship's Broader AI Initiative
The launch of Expedition Medicines comes with a pre-existing collaboration with pharmaceutical giant Pfizer. Under a multiyear agreement brokered by Flagship in 2023, Expedition will explore new therapies for prostate cancer.
This partnership is part of Flagship's broader Pioneering Medicines Initiative, which has also seen other Flagship-created companies such as ProFound Therapeutics, Quotient Therapeutics, Ampersand Biomedicines, and Montai Therapeutics strike disease-specific partnerships with Pfizer.
Industry Trends and Challenges in AI-Driven Drug Discovery
The creation of Expedition Medicines reflects a growing trend in the pharmaceutical industry, with investors pouring hundreds of millions of dollars into AI-based drug discovery platforms in recent years. Major pharmaceutical companies, including Eli Lilly, Takeda Pharmaceutical, and Bristol Myers Squibb, have also invested in building datasets for training AI models.
However, the field has faced challenges, with several AI-discovered or designed medicines encountering significant setbacks in clinical trials. Despite these obstacles, recent developments, such as promising early results from Iambic Therapeutics' cancer drug presented at the European Society for Medical Oncology annual meeting, suggest continued potential for AI in drug discovery.
References
- Flagship bets again on AI with Expedition
The prolific company creator is staking $50 million on AI drug discovery for cancer and immune diseases, launching a biotech that already has a partnership with Pfizer.
- Flagship launches another AI-powered drug discovery company, Expedition Medicines
Five years after launching one of the most promising generative biology drug discovery companies, Generate Biomedicines, venture capital powerhouse Flagship Pioneering has brought a generative chemistry drug discovery company out of stealth, supporting Expedition Medicines with a $50 million investment.
Explore Further
What specific advantages does Expedition Medicines’ quantum covalent chemistry approach offer compared to existing small molecule drug discovery techniques?
What are the current challenges in targeting 'undruggable' proteins, and how does Expedition Medicines aim to address them using AI?
How does the pre-existing collaboration between Expedition Medicines and Pfizer impact the development timeline or therapeutic focus of the company?
What industry benchmarks or precedents, such as Iambic Therapeutics’ early results, could affect expectations for Expedition Medicines’ AI-driven drug candidates?
How does Flagship Pioneering's investment in Expedition Medicines compare to its investments in other biotech ventures like ProFound Therapeutics or Montai Therapeutics?