Genentech advances the first neuroscience target from its Recursion collaboration into a joint discovery program

Recursion/Recursion OS and pipeline

Genentech exercised its first option in its neuroscience deal with Recursion, moving a previously unexplored drug target into a joint small-molecule discovery program. The target came from a whole-genome CRISPR knockout map, built by switching off genes one by one in more than a trillion lab-grown human neurons and imaging the effects. It is early evidence that this map-the-biology approach can produce targets a big partner wants.

• The deal allows up to 40 discovery programs, each with potential milestones above $300 million plus royalties.
• Recursion has received $216 million in upfront and milestone payments from Roche and Genentech so far; no payment was disclosed for this option.
• This is a discovery-stage step: no molecule yet, years from the clinic.
• Recursion had $556.8 million in cash at 30 June 2026 and cut its 2026 cash-spending guidance to under $375 million.