Introduction
Recursion Pharmaceuticals is a clinical-stage TechBio company headquartered in Salt Lake City, Utah, that applies automation, artificial intelligence, and large-scale biological data generation to drug discovery. Chris Gibson co-founded Recursion in 2013 from graduate research at the University of Utah, building the company into a publicly listed category leader with partnerships across major pharmaceutical companies and a pipeline of clinical-stage assets. As of Brel’s review date, Najat Khan serves as chief executive officer following a leadership transition effective January 1, 2026, while Gibson serves as chair of the board — a sequence disclosed through Recursion’s investor governance materials rather than inferred from third-party databases.
For readers tracking applied AI in life sciences, Recursion matters because it couples platform narrative with named clinical candidates. The December 8, 2025 announcement of positive Phase 1b/2 data from the TUPELO trial of REC-4881 in familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) is a concrete example: an investigational MEK1/2 inhibitor showing median polyp burden reductions that persisted weeks after treatment stopped, per Recursion’s official release.
FAP is a rare inherited condition in which patients develop hundreds to thousands of colorectal polyps; untreated progression carries high risk of colorectal cancer. Recursion’s TUPELO design included an off-treatment observation period specifically to test durability — a clinically meaningful endpoint for a disease where polyp burden typically increases when left untreated, per natural history analyses cited in the release.
What the company does
Recursion operates what it describes as the Recursion OS — an integrated stack spanning automated wet-lab experimentation, proprietary biological and chemical datasets, and machine-learning models trained at scale. The company generates phenotypic data across millions of experiments, links findings to chemistry and target hypotheses, and advances selected programs into clinical development. REC-4881, an allosteric MEK1/2 inhibitor studied in FAP, illustrates the workflow: Recursion reports that AI-driven phenotypic screening connected MEK1/2 inhibition to APC loss-of-function biology before the program advanced into human trials.
Following the November 20, 2024 completion of its combination with Exscientia, Recursion also absorbed precision chemistry and design capabilities, positioning itself as a vertically integrated AI drug discovery organization with primary offices in Salt Lake City, the Oxford area, Toronto, Montreal, and other global sites cited in the combination announcement.
Recursion in-licensed REC-4881 from Takeda, where it had prior oncology study history, then repurposed the asset through its phenotypic discovery engine — a common TechBio pattern where AI platforms resurrect shelved molecules with new disease hypotheses validated in cellular models before clinic.
Who it serves
Recursion’s primary stakeholders are patients enrolled in its clinical trials, pharmaceutical partners licensing or collaborating on discovery programs, and the broader biopharmaceutical industry evaluating whether AI-native discovery platforms can shorten timelines to meaningful clinical readouts. Internal pipeline assets span oncology, rare disease, and other areas where Recursion’s unbiased screening approach may surface non-obvious mechanisms. Partnering history includes relationships with Roche and Genentech, Sanofi, Bayer, and others referenced in Gibson’s board biography on Recursion’s site.
Company background
Recursion was founded in 2013 in Salt Lake City by Chris Gibson alongside co-founders including Blake Borgeson and Dean Li, spinning out technology developed during Gibson’s MD/PhD work at the University of Utah. Gibson served as chief executive officer from founding through December 31, 2025, scaling the company from startup to Nasdaq-listed TechBio with in-house supercomputing and landmark pharma partnerships. Effective January 1, 2026, Najat Khan — previously chief research and development officer and chief commercial officer — assumed the CEO role while Gibson became board chair, per Recursion’s November 2025 board disclosures filed with the SEC.
Product and AI capabilities
Recursion’s AI capability centers on learning from proprietary, relatable biological datasets produced through automated experimentation rather than relying solely on public omics repositories. Convolutional and graph-based models, phenotypic embeddings, and chemistry models support target identification, lead optimization, and translational hypotheses. The TUPELO readout for REC-4881 is positioned as validation that phenotypic AI screening can nominate mechanisms later confirmed in patients — a higher bar than retrospective computational benchmarks alone.
Key developments
2013: Recursion founded in Salt Lake City by Chris Gibson and co-founders. November 20, 2024: Recursion completed combination with Exscientia; Exscientia became a wholly owned subsidiary and delisted from Nasdaq. December 8, 2025: Positive Phase 1b/2 TUPELO data for REC-4881 — 75% of evaluable patients showed polyp burden reductions at 12 weeks, 43% median reduction, and 82% maintained reductions at Week 25 after stopping therapy. January 1, 2026: Najat Khan became CEO; Chris Gibson became board chair.
Why it matters
Recursion matters because AI drug discovery vendors are often judged on platform demos rather than registrational-path clinical evidence. TUPELO provides a dated, quantified clinical milestone tied to an AI-nominated program. The Exscientia combination further tests whether consolidation can merge Recursion’s phenotypic engine with Exscientia’s chemistry automation — a strategic bet on industrialized discovery that Brel readers can compare with standalone vendors such as Insilico Medicine and Owkin.
Sector context
Recursion belongs in Brel’s AI in healthcare coverage under AI drug discovery and TechBio, alongside Exscientia (acquired November 2024), Insilico Medicine, and Owkin. Ambient clinical AI companies such as Abridge operate on a different adoption curve — hospital workflow and documentation rather than IND-enabling studies — but both categories reflect healthcare’s deepening reliance on machine learning.
Sources and references
Recursion investor release on REC-4881 TUPELO trial (December 8, 2025) and governance board page.
- Recursion — REC-4881 TUPELO Phase 1b/2 results (ir.recursion.com, December 8, 2025)
- Recursion — Board of Directors (ir.recursion.com)