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1 / 4Flagship folds three biotechs into Etcelera, an AI drug-discovery company×

The merger

Flagship Pioneering has merged three of its portfolio companies, Cellarity, Etiome and Empress Therapeutics, into Etcelera, led by Ad Rawcliffe, the former chief executive of Adaptimmune, BioPharma Dive reported on October 29th.

The money

The three had raised $374 million in venture capital; no new money came with the launch and the terms were not disclosed.

The platform

Etcelera's platform pairs AI with perturbation data, records of how cells respond when a gene is silenced or a chemical added, and Flagship says it includes a foundation model trained on 150 million cells.

The pipeline

First programs target myelofibrosis and essential thrombocythemia, and Cellarity's sickle cell drug is spun out on its own. "Our vision is to build a compounding AI system that becomes a definitive source of novel medicines," said Flagship's Alec Reynolds, the board chair.

Sources and the full story

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Flagship folds three biotechs into Etcelera, an AI drug-discovery company

Flagship Pioneering has merged three of its portfolio companies, Cellarity, Etiome and Empress Therapeutics, into Etcelera, led by Ad Rawcliffe, the former chief executive of Adaptimmune, BioPharma Dive reported on October 29th. The three had raised $374 million in venture capital; no new money came with the launch and the terms were not disclosed. Etcelera's platform pairs AI with perturbation data, records of how cells respond when a gene is silenced or a chemical added, and Flagship says it includes a foundation model trained on 150 million cells. First programs target myelofibrosis and essential thrombocythemia, and Cellarity's sickle cell drug is spun out on its own.

"Our vision is to build a compounding AI system that becomes a definitive source of novel medicines," said Flagship's Alec Reynolds, the board chair. SourcesBB

Sources

• BFlagship launches Etcelera from Etiome, Empress and Cellarity (BioPharma Dive)biopharmadive.com
• BFlagship brings 3 biotech platforms together to launch Etcelera (Fierce Biotech)fiercebiotech.com

This story ran in the Afternoon Brief of November 1st 2026.