Genentech takes an AI-found neuroscience target into drug discovery

Genentech has exercised the first "Validated Target Option" under its collaboration with Recursion Pharmaceuticals, advancing a neuroscience target that AI models identified from a CRISPR knockout screen run across more than one trillion iPSC-derived neurons. The trigger was a $3 million milestone payment, a small fraction of the $12 billion the deal could eventually pay out. What makes the case notable is not the money but the method: the target had no prior literature tying it to the disease, meaning the screen surfaced biology rather than optimising a known lead. The article is careful to note that Phase II success rates for AI-native programmes still track industry averages, so the harder test, whether this target survives clinical trials, remains years away.