1910 Genetics

1910 Genetics (also branded "1910") is a Boston/Cambridge, Massachusetts biotechnology company that applies artificial intelligence, computation and robotics-driven laboratory automation to the discovery of both small molecule and protein/peptide therapeutics. Its stated mission is to "Make Every Pharma Company an AI Company" and its vision is to make undruggable targets a thing of the past. The company's core technology is the ITO™ (Input, Transform, Output) platform, which combines multimodal biological and computational data, a multi-agent system of frontier AI models, GPU compute infrastructure obtained through technology partnerships, and an automated wet lab used to generate large-scale datasets purpose-built for AI training and validation.

The company frames its work around the decline in pharmaceutical R&D productivity, citing figures of $2.5B+ and 12–15 years to develop a single drug with under 10% probability of success from Phase I. Earlier public descriptions referenced two drug discovery engines, ELVIS™ (small molecule) and ROSALYND™ (protein therapeutics). More recent named AI models include CANDID-CNS™, for predicting blood-brain barrier permeability and CNS penetration of small molecules including stereochemistry and beyond-Rule-of-5 chemistry, and PEGASUS™, a model built on massively parallel biological assays for cell-permeable cyclic and macrocyclic peptides. Reported discovery programs span neuroscience, infectious disease, immunology and oncology; third-party pipeline data associates the company with a discovery-stage HPK1 inhibitor program in autoimmune disease and a chronic pain program.

Founding story

The company is named for the year 1910, when James Bryan Herrick, MD, published the first Western case report of sickle cell anemia — a story that impressed founder Jen Nwankwo, whose PhD research identified a novel drug target for sickle cell disease that she later used to validate the company's technology. Nwankwo has said the idea for 1910 Genetics came from pain points she experienced as a pharmacologist: the trial-and-error nature of drug discovery (in one instance screening a library of two million compounds to find a single potential candidate) and the belief that machine learning could extract more value from historical failures and successes.

Business model

1910 Genetics operates a platform-based drug discovery model that combines internal therapeutic programs with partnerships. Through its collaboration with Microsoft, the company offers access to its AI/HPC drug discovery platform under three partnership models: co-discovery, co-engineering, and platform-as-a-service, aimed at pharmaceutical, biotechnology, government, academic and research institutions globally. Its website markets a Co-Engineering offering in which partners work with 1910 at the level of data, AI models, optimized compute and interactive tools (dashboards, chatbots) to build bespoke small- or large-molecule discovery modules for use inside the partner's organization.

Revenue is described as arising from commercial partnerships and collaborations, including a five-year commercial agreement and go-to-market collaboration with Microsoft, and from co-discovery, co-engineering and platform-as-a-service arrangements with biopharma and research organizations. Listed service lines include AI/ML software development, laboratory automation and biotech operations, drug discovery and medicinal chemistry, and strategic partnerships and licensing.

Traction

The company emerged from stealth in 2021 with $26M raised across seed and Series A. In February 2024 it announced a five-year commercial agreement and go-to-market collaboration with Microsoft covering Azure Quantum Elements and HPC, and it has also announced a collaboration with Accenture aimed at helping biopharma adopt AI in drug discovery. It launched CANDID-CNS™ for blood-brain barrier permeability prediction and, in early 2026, publicized PEGASUS™ work on macrocyclic peptide drugs, alongside supporting publications dated November and December 2025. Third-party pipeline data lists discovery-stage programs including an HPK1-targeted asset for autoimmune disease.

Latest developments

In late 2025 and early 2026 the company published work on CANDID-CNS™ (predicting CNS penetration of small molecules, including stereochemistry and beyond-Rule-of-5 properties, November 2025) and PEGASUS™ (unlocking polarity in cell-permeable cyclic peptides using AI models built on massively parallel biological assays, December 2025), followed by a January 2026 announcement on using PEGASUS™ to unlock macrocyclic peptide drugs. Earlier, in February–March 2024, it announced the five-year Microsoft commercial and go-to-market collaboration.