Flagship Pioneering merges three biotech startups to launch AI-driven drugmaker Etcelera

Flagship Pioneering announced the creation of Etcelera Therapeutics by merging three of its portfolio companies - Etiome, Cellarity and Empress Therapeutics.

The new venture will combine artificial intelligence with a suite of drug discovery tools, aiming to better predict which experimental medicines will succeed in humans.

Etcelera is led by Adrian "Ad" Rawcliffe, a former Adaptimmune CEO and veteran of GSK, who says the integrated platform should improve the odds of finding novel disease drivers and small-molecule drugs compared with traditional approaches.