Flagship combines three biotech platforms to launch AI drug-discovery company Etcelera

On October 29, 2026, Flagship Pioneering announced Etcelera, a new drug-discovery company formed by combining the platforms of Cellarity, Etiome, and Empress Therapeutics with Flagship’s in-house AI capabilities.

Etcelera aims to use AI and biological data to identify disease drivers, predict how cells respond to interventions, and discover small-molecule medicines it believes may have better prospects in clinical development.

Its platform brings together human-cell transcriptomic data, chemoproteomics, and large-scale cell-perturbation data. Flagship says it draws on more than 20 years of combined data, a model trained on data from 150 million cells, and more than 30 proprietary prediction models.

The company is led by Adrian “Ad” Rawcliffe, formerly CEO of Adaptimmune. Its initial focus areas include blood disorders, metabolism, and immunology, with programs including myelofibrosis and essential thrombocythemia.

No new funding was announced at launch. BioPharma Dive reported that the three predecessor companies had raised about $374 million in venture funding. Cellarity’s Novo Nordisk collaboration in MASH will continue; its sickle-cell drug program is being advanced separately.