Flagship Pioneering Launches Expedition Medicines to Revolutionize Small-Molecule Drug Discovery with AI

Flagship Pioneering has officially launched Expedition Medicines, a biotech company focused on using generative AI to design covalent-binding small-molecule drugs, particularly for targets previously considered 'undruggable.'1 5 7 9

Expedition Medicines emerged from three years of internal R&D at Flagship and is supported with a $50 million investment.7 9

The company's generative AI platform leverages proprietary chemistry datasets to accelerate the identification and optimization of novel covalent drugs.5 7

The company will target challenging indications such as cancer, with ambitions to expand to other diseases in the future.9

Expedition is led by executives with significant AI-driven drug discovery experience—including alumni from Lila Sciences and Generate Biomedicines, both of which are established Flagship portfolio companies.7

Expedition Medicines' launch extends Flagship's broader strategy of building AI-first bioplatform companies, complementing its prior launches such as Lila Sciences, which is focused on fully autonomous labs and scientific superintelligence.2 4 7

This launch underscores growing investor and industry confidence in the ability of AI platforms to transform the pace and nature of drug development, specifically by unlocking drugging strategies considered impossible with traditional methods.5 7 9