Kinnevik at JPM Healthcare Conference 2026
By Ala Alenazi, PhD, Venture & Growth Investor
Clinical execution takes centre stage
The past year has seen AI tools spread rapidly across life sciences, with large language models becoming embedded in preclinical research and discovery workflows. The impact is most visible upstream, in data interrogation, hypothesis generation and experimental planning. The harder question is whether these gains persist as programmes move into the clinic, where constraints shift from information scarcity to biology, regulation and execution risk.
This framed how we experienced JPM this year. It also marked a turning point for our bio portfolio. All our companies are now clinical stage and were presenting at the main conference. Reaching that point is no small achievement. From here, the work becomes even more demanding, as platform ambition meets execution and evidence in patients.
We remain anchored in a small set of fundamentals: large markets, scalable business models and a clear line of sight to meaningful impact for patients. Platforms and tools can accelerate progress, but translation is where it ultimately shows up.
Across our bio portfolio, the questions have become more concrete. How strong is the human signal relative to established benchmarks. How durable is the effect once dosing stops. Where are the real inflection points and which programmes earn the right to move forward. This is the work of turning platforms into products.
Recursion, Enveda and Strand approach biology very differently, but they are now being evaluated through the same lens. Clinical execution, data quality and strength of decision making.
Recursion continues to operate at scale with increasing focus
The company now has five wholly owned programmes in the clinic, a broad partnered discovery engine and a balance sheet with $755M in cash, providing runway into 2027. Najat Khan’s first JPM as CEO reinforced an emphasis on operating discipline and portfolio management.
REC-4881 in familial adenomatous polyposis remains the clearest clinical anchor. The programme has shown durable reductions in polyp burden in a disease with no approved therapies, using a MEK1/2 inhibitor identified through Recursion’s phenotypic screening approach. MEK biology is well established, but durability and consistency of effect matter, particularly as evidence that the platform can surface molecules that hold up in human disease.
Over the next 12 to 18 months, Recursion is defined by a sequence of deliberate gates. REC-1245, an RBM39 degrader in oncology, will generate first-in-human safety and pharmacokinetic data. REC-7735, targeting PI3Kα H1047R in HR+ breast cancer and REC-102 in hypophosphatasia move toward go or no-go decisions in the second half of 2026. REC-4881 continues dose optimisation alongside FDA engagement. In platform partnerships, biology maps are expected to mature into early development programmes, each worth a potential $300m+. The emphasis is on repeatability and delivery.
Christian Scherrer, Senior Investment Director Kinnevik, Najat Khan, PhD, CEO & President Recursion & Ala Alenazi, PhD, Investor Kinnevik
Enveda presents a different translation opportunity
In six years, the team has generated three wholly owned, internally discovered clinical-stage assets, a pace that is unusual in small-molecule drug discovery, particularly for molecules designed to engage complex, broad biology.
The most advanced programme, ENV-294, is now in Phase 2a development and has expanded beyond atopic dermatitis into asthma. That expansion reflects confidence that the underlying biology is relevant across multiple inflammatory indications, rather than being tightly tuned to a single disease context. ENV-294 is positioned as an oral therapy intended to deliver broad immunomodulatory effect with the simplicity of small-molecule dosing, a combination that remains difficult to achieve in chronic inflammatory disease.
Viswa Colluru, PhD, Founder & CEO Enveda, Christian Scherrer, Senior Investment Director Kinnevik & Ala Alenazi, PhD, Investor Kinnevik
The broader pipeline reinforces that this is a multi-asset story. One programme focuses on muscle-sparing maintenance weight loss, addressing a growing gap as GLP-1 therapies scale and challenges around weight regain and lean mass loss become more visible. Another, ENV-6946, is being developed for inflammatory bowel disease and, much like ENV-294, is designed to modulate multiple inflammatory pathways with a single oral molecule, seeking biologic-like breadth without injections. Across programmes, Enveda is applying the same strategy: compact molecules designed for broad and novel biological reach, now being tested indication by indication in the clinic.
Strand is tackling a long-standing limitation in genetic medicines: control
Potent RNA-based payloads have shown promise across oncology and immunology but translating that power systemically has been constrained by safety and specificity. Strand’s platform is built around programmable RNA circuits designed to control when and where biology is activated.
That approach is now supported by data across multiple programmes. STX-003, Strand’s systemically delivered RNA therapeutic, has demonstrated on-target activity in non-human primates with a profile that supports advancement into the clinic. The programme is progressing through IND-enabling studies, with the next phase focused on translating this control logic into the clinic.
Jake Becraft, Co-founder & CEO Strand Therapeutics
Clinical signal continues to build through STX-001, the intratumoral saRNA IL-12 programme. In heavily pre-treated, end-stage melanoma patients, STX-001 has generated complete and partial responses alongside durable abscopal effects across deep-tissue organs. Localised, controlled IL-12 expression is showing the ability to drive systemic immune activation while remaining tolerable.
Strand has also disclosed early non-human primate data from STX-005, its in vivo CAR-T programme. The data has shown best in class activity, including thorough tissue-level B cell depletion, and extend the platform’s control framework into cell therapy. Together, these programmes illustrate how the same underlying control logic is being applied across local delivery, systemic RNA control and in vivo cell engineering.
Pegah Ebrahimi, Co-founder & Managing Partner FPV Ventures, Tasuku Kitada, Co-founder, President & Head of R&D Strand Therapeutics, Jason Luke, CMO Strand Therapeutics, Ala Alenazi, PhD, Investor Kinnevik, Jake Becraft, Co-founder & CEO Strand Therapeutics & Christian Scherrer, Senior Investment Director Kinnevik
The bottom line
Taken together, these companies illustrate where platform biotech sits today. The ideas are established. The question now is how well they perform under clinical constraints. Our optimism is grounded in data, catalyst cadence and the willingness to make hard decisions. Different technologies and different risks, but a shared trajectory toward translation that is becoming clearer with each readout. As biotech markets recover, we believe Recursion, Enveda and Strand are well positioned at the intersection of platform innovation and near-term patient impact leading to tangible value creation.
Until next time JPM!
Kinnevik Bio Team
