Flagship combines three startups to form Etcelera

Flagship Pioneering has combined Etiome, Cellarity and Empress Therapeutics into Etcelera Therapeutics, an AI-aided drug-discovery company, BioPharma Dive reported. The company is led by Adrian “Ad” Rawcliffe, the former CEO of Adaptimmune and a GSK veteran. Etcelera says it will use the startups’ technologies and Flagship’s in-house AI capabilities to identify disease drivers and develop small-molecule medicines that may be more likely to succeed in clinical testing.

Etcelera plans to pursue medicines for blood conditions, immune diseases and metabolic-fibrotic disorders, starting with programs for myelofibrosis and essential thrombocythemia. The three companies had received $374 million in venture capital before the merger, and no new funding was announced at launch. Etcelera will retain a 2022 partnership between Novo and Cellarity to seek a small-molecule treatment for metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis. Flagship said a Cellarity-discovered oral sickle cell disease drug will move to a separate company.