Genentech options Recursion's first AI target

Genentech exercised the first validated-target option in its Recursion neuroscience partnership, moving a previously unexplored target into small-molecule discovery. Recursion says the program emerged from maps built with more than 1 trillion lab-grown neuronal cells; the collaboration has paid Recursion $216 million so far and can span 40 programs, although the company still lost $131 million in the quarter. Drug-discovery operators should track partner-option and wet-lab progression—not model scores—as the commercialization test behind AI drug discovery’s multibillion-dollar valuations.