Recursion’s co-founder and long-serving chief executive, Chris Gibson, has switched to the role of company chair, and will be succeeded in the CEO role by R&D and commercial head Najat Khan.
The ‘techbio’ company said the changes, which will also see current chair Rob Hershberg transition to the vice-chair role, will take place on 1st January.
The shake-up comes a year after Salt Lake City, US-based Recursion closed its $688 million merger with UK AI-powered drug developer Exscientia.
That is one of the signature developments for Recursion under Gibson’s 12-year tenure, along with the signing of large-scale R&D partnerships with pharma companies, including Roche/Genentech, Bayer, Sanofi, and Merck KGaA, that have a top-line value of up to $20 billion, not including royalties, and have generated payments of $500 million to date.
Gibson’s decision to step down has been taken as AI-driven drug discovery has become widely adopted in the biopharma sector, but is still considered to be in its formative stages, with no fully AI-developed drugs having reached the market as yet.
Earlier this year, Recursion said it would cut its pipeline after a review that followed the Exscientia merger, sidelining four clinical-stage candidates and a preclinical programme and narrowing its R&D focus to six projects in cancer and rare diseases, five of which are in early-stage clinical testing.
Its oncology pipeline is led by oral CDK7 inhibitor REC-617, in the phase 1/2 ELUCIDATE trial in advanced solid tumours, while in rare diseases the lead programme is MEK1/2 inhibitor REC-4881, being tested in familial adenomatous polyposis (FAP) patients in the phase 1/2 TUPELO study.
In a statement, Recursion said the shuffling of top personnel will bring “continuity,” with Khan stepping in for “the next phase of Recursion’s journey evolving the OS platform, advancing its pipeline, and bringing transformational medicines to patients.”
Hershberg said the decision to elevate Khan to the CEO role is “a clear reflection of our confidence in her strategic acumen and proven track record of converting new science into tangible value.”
He added that Gibson’s move to chair “guarantees we retain his unparalleled expertise in the techbio space.”
Khan joined Recursion in 2024 as chief R&D and chief commercial officer, having previously worked at Johnson & Johnson Innovative Medicine as chief data science officer and global head of strategy, portfolio, and operations.
